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2023 Best Value Trade School 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.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Trade College Search has developed this Best Value Trade School Schools in South Dakota ranking. Our analysis looked at 8 schools in South Dakota to see which programs offered the best value experiences for trade school students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
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 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 in South Dakota. Located in Watertown, South Dakota, the small public school awarded 793 diplomas to qualifed students in 2021-2022.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at LATI are $6,718 a year.
LATI not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #1 on our Best Trade Schools in South Dakota list.
A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Southeast Technical College is a great place for trade school students who want to get the most value for their educational dollar. Southeast Tech is a small public school situated in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It awarded 797 degrees in 2021-2022.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at Southeast Tech are $7,650 a year.
Southeast Tech not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #2 on our Best Trade Schools in South Dakota list.
The excellent programs at Mitchell Technical College helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value trade schools in South Dakota. Mitchell, South Dakota is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out degrees to 464 students in 2021-2022.
Mitchell Tech undergraduate students pay an average of $7,524 in tuition and fees each year.
Mitchell Tech did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Trade Schools in South Dakota list.
A rank of #4 on this year’s list means South Dakota State University is a great place for trade school students who want to get the most value for their educational dollar. Brookings, South Dakota is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out degrees to 2,703 students in 2021-2022.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at South Dakota State are $12,809 per year.
South Dakota State did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our Best Trade Schools in South Dakota list.
The excellent programs at University of South Dakota helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value trade schools in South Dakota. Vermillion, South Dakota is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out degrees to 2,132 students in 2021-2022.
USD undergraduate students pay an average of $12,942 in tuition and fees each year.
USD did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our Best Trade Schools in South Dakota list.
Western Dakota Technical Institute landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value trade school programs. Western Dakota Tech is a public institution located in Rapid City, South Dakota. The school has a small population, and it awarded 377 degrees in 2021-2022.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Western Dakota Tech are $8,333 per year.
National American University - Rapid City did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value places for trade school students. It came in at #7 on the list. Located in Rapid City, South Dakota, the small private for-profit school awarded 332 diplomas to qualifed students in 2021-2022.
National American University - Rapid City undergraduate students pay an average of $16,065 in tuition and fees each year.
Read full report on National American University - Rapid City
University of Sioux Falls did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value places for trade school students. It came in at #8 on the list. University of Sioux Falls is a small private not-for-profit school located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that handed out 586 degrees in 2021-2022.
University of Sioux Falls undergraduate students pay an average of $20,290 in tuition and fees each year.
Best Value Trade Schools in the Plains States Region
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 8 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.