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2023 Best Value Trade School Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota
Identifying High-Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for trade school students. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Trade College Search has created the Best Value Trade School Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 6 schools in South Dakota to see which ones offered the best value associate degree programs for trade school students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.
This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.
For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
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Top Value Trade Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our analysis found Lake Area Technical Institute to be the best value school for trade school students who want to pursue a associate degree in South Dakota. Watertown, South Dakota is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out associate degrees to 514 students in 2021-2022.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at LATI are $6,718 a year. On average, associate degree students take out $13,775 in loans while pursuing their degree.
Online courses are available at LATI, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. During the 2020-2021 year, about 44% of the undergraduates at the school took at least one online course.
LATI also took the #1 spot in our Best Associate Degree Trade Schools in South Dakota rankings.
The excellent associate degree programs at Southeast Technical College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value trade school schools in South Dakota. Southeast Tech is a public institution located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The school has a small population, and it awarded 522 associate degrees in 2021-2022.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Southeast Tech are $7,650 per year. By the time they get their associate degree, students from this school have racked up an average of $16,094 in student loans.
One thing to take note of is that Southeast Tech does offer online classes in some areas. In 2020-2021 about 43% of the undergraduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Southeast Tech is ranked #2 for overall quality in South Dakota.
The excellent associate degree programs at Mitchell Technical College helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value trade school schools in South Dakota. Mitchell, South Dakota is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out associate degrees to 303 students in 2021-2022.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at Mitchell Tech are $7,524 a year. By the time they get their associate degree, students from this school have racked up an average of $13,352 in student loans.
Online courses are available at Mitchell Tech, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. In 2020-2021 about 33% of the undergraduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Mitchell Tech is ranked #4 for overall quality in South Dakota.
Out of the 6 schools in South Dakota that were part of this year’s value ranking, South Dakota State University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in Brookings, South Dakota, the fairly large public school awarded 105 diplomas to qualifed associate degree students in 2021-2022.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at South Dakota State are $12,809 a year. By the time they get their associate degree, students from this school have racked up an average of $12,834 in student loans.
If you are interested in distance education, be sure to check with the school since South Dakota State does offer online classes for certain majors. In 2020-2021 about 50% of the undergraduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
South Dakota State not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #3 on our Best Associate Degree Trade Schools in South Dakota list.
The excellent associate degree programs at Western Dakota Technical Institute helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value trade school schools in South Dakota. Located in Rapid City, South Dakota, the small public school handed out 197 associate degree awards in 2021-2022.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Western Dakota Tech are $8,333 per year. On average, associate degree students take out $17,197 in loans while pursuing their degree.
Some students may be able to take online classes at Western Dakota Tech. In 2020-2021 about 47% of the undergraduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
National American University - Rapid City came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Trade School Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota ranking. National American University - Rapid City is located in Rapid City, South Dakota and has a small student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 54 associate degrees to qualified students.
National American University - Rapid City undergraduate students pay an average of $16,065 in tuition and fees each year. On average, associate degree students take out $25,178 in loans while pursuing their degree.
Since National American University - Rapid City is primarily an online school, it is an excellent choice for undergraduate students who need more flexibility than what is offered at some other schools.
National American University - Rapid City did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Associate Degree Trade Schools in South Dakota list.
Best Value Trade Associate Degree Schools in the Plains States Region
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 6 schools only.
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%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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