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University of South Dakota Data & Information Overview

443 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
87% Acceptance Rate
Want the scoop on University of South Dakota? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors USD offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you’ll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of this page.

How Well Is University of South Dakota Ranked?

#386 Best Colleges in Nation
#5 Best Colleges in SD
Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling Highest Ranked Major
Value Badge

2024 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

University of South Dakota was awarded 443 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is substance abuse/addiction counseling.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2024 analysis, USD is ranked #386 out of 2,217 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This is an improvement over the previous year, when USD held the #479 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

USD is also ranked #5 out of 13 schools in South Dakota.

See all of the rankings for University of South Dakota.

Is It Hard to Get Into USD?

87% Acceptance Rate
66% Of Accepted Are Women
3% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

With an acceptance rate of 87%, University of South Dakota is easier to get into than many other schools. But that doesn't mean you can slack off on your application. Make sure to treat this school like any other when submitting requested materials and documents.

Average Test Scores

About 3% of students accepted to USD submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 510 and 640. Math scores were between 540 and 650.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for University of South Dakota  ( 510 to 640 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for University of South Dakota  ( 540 to 650 )
200
800
USD received ACT scores from 80% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 19 and 25.

ACT Composite Scores for University of South Dakota  ( 19 to 25 )
1
36

Learn more about University of South Dakota admissions.

University of South Dakota Faculty

14 to 1 Student to Faculty
71% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio is often used to estimate how much interaction there is between professors and their students at a college or university. At University of South Dakota, this ratio is 14 to 1, which is on par with the national average of 15 to 1. That's not bad at all.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at University of South Dakota is 71%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  71 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at University of South Dakota

77% Freshmen Retention
42% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

University of South Dakota has a freshmen retention rate of 77%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  77 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at USD for first-time, full-time students is 42%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  42 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of South Dakota.

University of South Dakota Undergraduate Student Diversity

4,741 Full-Time Undergraduates
13.3% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
63.0% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 7,103 undergraduates at USD with 4,741 being full-time and 2,362 being part-time.

How Much Does University of South Dakota Cost?

$19,389 Net Price
60% Take Out Loans
$29,100 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of USD is $19,389. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for USD

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$15,495 $17,294 $19,548 $21,009 $21,079

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of USD, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At USD, approximately 60% of students took out student loans averaging $7,275 a year. That adds up to $29,100 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at USD is 3.1%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for University of South Dakota.

How Much Money Do USD Graduates Make?

$46,600 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from USD make about $46,600 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future USD graduates since it is 10% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at University of South Dakota make the most money.

Location of University of South Dakota

South Dakota State
4,741 Full-Time Undergraduates
Town Campus Setting
Located in Vermillion, South Dakota, University of South Dakota is a public institution. Vermillion is a good match for students who enjoy small-town life.

Get more details about the location of University of South Dakota.

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Contact details for USD are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 414 E Clark St, Vermillion, SD 57069-2390
Phone: 605-658-6200
Website: https://www.usd.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UniversityofSouthDakota
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UniversitySD

University of South Dakota Majors

68 Majors With Completions
1,358 Undergraduate Degrees
760 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 68 majors graduated from University of South Dakota. Of these students, 1,358 received undergraduate degrees and 760 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Nursing 198 $57,262
Health Sciences & Services 96 $36,775
General Biology 89 $24,185
Communication & Media Studies 78 $34,704
Business Administration & Management 64 $37,003
Teacher Education Grade Specific 61 $38,144
Health & Physical Education 59 NA
Accounting 55 $43,992
Mental & Social Health Services 54 $34,694
Liberal Arts General Studies 52 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at University of South Dakota along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at USD

56% Take At Least One Class Online
33% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2020-2021, 5,298 students took at least one online class at University of South Dakota. This is a decrease from the 6,003 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 5,298 3,109
2019-2020 6,003 2,860
2018-2019 4,939 2,904
2017-2018 4,627 2,890
2016-2017 4,764 3,087

Learn more about online learning at University of South Dakota.

If you’re considering University of South Dakota, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against USD? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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