2026 Best Value General Education Schools in South Dakota

[General Education](/majors/education/general-education/education-general/) degree programs vary widely in price and payoff across the country. The schools below stand out for delivering a strong general education education at a price that pays off.
For its 2026 best-value ranking, College Factual looked at 6 schools to find the best return on investment for general education students.
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2026 Best Value General Education Schools in South Dakota
Below are the schools that deliver the strongest value in general education, balancing cost against outcomes.
Best Value General Education Schools
Our analysis ranked Augustana College South Dakota the best value for a degree in general education in South Dakota. Set in the city of Sioux Falls, Augustana College South Dakota is a mid-sized private not-for-profit institution. Students from in state pay about $40,160 in tuition and fees. Students borrow a median of $26,217 to complete the general education program here. Early-career general education graduates make about $61,581. That is a strong return on a $26,217 median debt. Roughly 68% of applicants are accepted.
More General Education Rankings
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Notes and References
This list is compiled by College Factual (MF_RANKING_2025), 2026 edition. The methodology weighs the cost of a degree against the earnings graduates go on to achieve, drawn primarily from the U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS and College Scorecard).
Ranking method: College Major Best Value · 6 schools evaluated.
*Averages shown above reflect the top 1 ranked schools only.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), serves as the core of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
More about our data sources and methodologies.