by our College Data Analytics TeamMost students will not be asked to pay the full, advertised sticker price of a school. Instead, they will be given a financial aid offer that will include a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. The sum total of attendance at South Dakota State University can sound tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students get some type of financial help.
What financing options does South Dakota State offer, and what will you qualify for? Keep scrolling for more information. Read on to find out what amount of financial assistance will be accessible to you.
The amount of financial aid and scholarships you are eligible for will vary depending on your family’s income. Use the information below to understand how much financial assistance you may get from South Dakota State University.
Financial assistance, available as scholarships, loans, and work-study, is a way schools lower the price of attendance so many students can enroll. Some kinds of aid are clearly preferable to others, and outcomes differ across students.
For freshmen starting at South Dakota State University, 97% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid (about 2151 new students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 94% | $4,474 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 92% | $3,021 |
| Federal Pell grants | 21% | $4,967 |
| State/local grants | 18% | $1,630 |
| Federal student loans | 55% | $5,147 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. At this school, around 66% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $6,191 (across roughly 6674 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 66% | $6,191 |
| Federal Pell grants | 17% | $5,117 |
| Federal student loans | 43% | $6,388 |
On-campus students receiving title-IV aid were awarded grants averaging $4,795.
Because need-based aid scales with family income, what students actually pay differs sharply across income brackets.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $13,364 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $16,339 |
| Over $75,000 | $19,848 |
These figures reflect what title-IV aid recipients pay after grant and scholarship aid is applied.
After grants and scholarships come off the published price, what remains is the net price — the best estimate of true out-of-pocket cost.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $19,841 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $18,219 |
For a customized cost estimate, visit South Dakota State’s net price tool: www.sdstate.edu/admissions/office-financial-aid/net-price-calculator.
The middle student in the debt distribution at South Dakota State owes $16,246 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $16,246 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $23,250 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $246.49/mo |
At a typical 10-year repayment schedule, the median graduate would pay about the monthly figure above.
The median alone does not show how widely outcomes vary across the student body. These percentiles trace how cumulative federal debt is spread among borrowers at South Dakota State.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,750 |
| 75th percentile | $26,983 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,000 |
How much a student borrows depends heavily on family income, first-gen status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,500 |
| Middle income | $15,950 |
| High income | $17,360 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,531 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $16,282 |
| Independent students | $15,917 |
These indicators are derived from the underlying debt data and summarize the overall picture at South Dakota State.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. The totals below capture Stafford lending at South Dakota State:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 34915 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $621,605,658 |
Military-affiliated students can tap the Post-9/11 GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 144 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $1,308,329 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $9,086 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 87 |
| Total DoD amount | $337,500 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $3,879 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.