2022 Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies in South Dakota

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for an Associate in South Dakota” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2019-2020, 559,661 liberal arts general studies students received their degree, making the major the 1st most popular in the country. In 2017-2018, liberal arts general studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $26,786 and had an average of $16,538 in loans still to pay off.

Across South Dakota, there were 259 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,700 and $21,538 respectively. At the associate degree level specifically, there were 140 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for an Associate in South Dakota” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent liberal arts general studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the liberal arts general studies program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The liberal arts school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for an Associate in South Dakota”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for an Associate in South Dakota

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for an Associate in South Dakota.

Top 2 Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies in South Dakota

#1

South Dakota State University

Brookings, South Dakota

#1 in overall quality

$19,252 Average Net Price

$26,933 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend South Dakota State University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for an Associate in South Dakota list. South Dakota State University is located in Brookings, South Dakota and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 58 associates’s liberal arts degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our south dakota associate degree liberal arts students list, South Dakota State has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota” ranking. It costs about $19,252 for South Dakota Associate Degree Liberal Arts students per year to attend South Dakota State.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at South Dakota State University

#2

University of South Dakota

Vermillion, South Dakota

#2 in overall quality

$18,555 Average Net Price

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for an Associate in South Dakota that were part of this year’s ranking, University of South Dakota landed the #2 spot on the list. USD is a public institution located in Vermillion, South Dakota. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 25 associates’s degrees in 2019-2020.

USD not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota” list. The yearly cost to attend University of South Dakota is $18,555 for south dakota associate degree liberal arts students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full University of South Dakota Liberal Arts General Studies Report

• Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies in the Plains States Region
• Best Value Associate Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies

Notes and References

References

• 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

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