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2023 Best Value Trade School Undergraduate Certificate 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 Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota ranking. This report analyzed 5 schools in South Dakota to see which ones offered the best value undergraduate certificate 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 Undergraduate Certificate 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 undergraduate certificate in South Dakota. LATI is a public institution located in Watertown, South Dakota. The school has a small population, and it awarded 217 undergraduate certificates in 2021-2022.
LATI undergraduate students pay an average of $6,718 in tuition and fees each year. Undergraduate Certificate recipients from this school accumulate an average of $10,045 in student debt by the time they complete their degree.
Some students may be able to take online classes at LATI. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 44% of undergraduates took at least one course online in 2020-2021.
LATI also made our Best Undergraduate Certificate Trade Schools in South Dakota list, coming in at #2.
The excellent undergraduate certificate programs at Mitchell Technical College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value trade school schools in South Dakota. Mitchell Technical College is a small public school located in Mitchell, South Dakota that handed out 143 undergraduate certificates in 2021-2022.
Mitchell Tech undergraduate students pay an average of $7,524 in tuition and fees each year. On average, undergraduate certificate students take out $8,371 in loans while pursuing their degree.
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. Of all the undergraduates enrolled at the school during the 2020-2021 academic year, around 33% took at least some of their classes online.
Mitchell Tech also took the #1 spot in our Best Undergraduate Certificate Trade Schools in South Dakota rankings.
Out of the 5 schools in South Dakota that were part of this year’s value ranking, Southeast Technical College landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the small public school handed out 258 undergraduate certificate awards in 2021-2022.
Southeast Tech undergraduate students pay an average of $7,650 in tuition and fees each year. Undergraduate Certificate recipients from this school accumulate an average of $12,016 in student debt by the time they complete their degree.
One thing to take note of is that Southeast Tech does offer online classes in some areas. In fact, around 43% of the undergraduate population registered for at least one online class in 2020-2021.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Southeast Tech is ranked #3 for overall quality in South Dakota.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Western Dakota Technical Institute. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Trade School Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota list. Rapid City, South Dakota is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out undergraduate certificates to 142 students in 2021-2022.
Western Dakota Tech undergraduate students pay an average of $8,333 in tuition and fees each year. By the time they get their undergraduate certificate, students from this school have racked up an average of $10,399 in student loans.
If you are interested in distance education, be sure to check with the school since Western Dakota Tech does offer online classes for certain majors. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 47% of undergraduates took at least one course online in 2020-2021.
Western Dakota Tech not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #4 on our Best Undergraduate Certificate Trade Schools in South Dakota list.
The excellent undergraduate certificate programs at National American University - Rapid City 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 private for-profit school awarded 16 diplomas to qualifed undergraduate certificate students in 2021-2022.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at National American University - Rapid City are $16,065 a year. By the time they get their undergraduate certificate, students from this school have racked up an average of $15,952 in student loans.
National American University - Rapid City is primarily an online school, so it is a great choice for returning adults and students who work full time.
National American University - Rapid City also made our Best Undergraduate Certificate Trade Schools in South Dakota list, coming in at #5.
Best Value Trade Undergraduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 5 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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