Black Hills State University Overview
Located in Spearfish, South Dakota, Black Hills State University is a public institution. Spearfish is a great place for students who enjoy small town life.
What Is Black Hills State University Known For?
- The master's degree is the highest award offered at BHSU.
- For the 2017-2018 academic year, 57% of the faculty were full-time.
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Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards BHSU has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#10 | Best Education Colleges for Veterans | College Factual |
#12 | Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Colleges for Veterans | College Factual |
#19 | Best Education Colleges for Non-Traditional Students | College Factual |
#24 | Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Colleges for Veterans | College Factual |
#31 | Best Value Colleges for Education | College Factual |
#45 | Best Value Colleges for Teacher Education Grade Specific | College Factual |
Where Is Black Hills State University?

Contact details for BHSU are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 1200 University St, Spearfish, SD 57799-9500 |
Phone: | 800-255-2478 |
Website: | www.bhsu.edu |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/BlackHillsState |
Twitter: | http://www.twitter.com/BlackHillsState |
How Do I Get Into BHSU?
You can apply to BHSU online at: https://apply.sdbor.edu/login.cfm?inst=bhsu
Admission Requirements for BHSU
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | required |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | required |
Recommendations | neither required nor recommended |
SAT or ACT Scores | required |
TOEFL | neither required nor recommended |
How Hard Is It To Get Into BHSU?
Approximately 37% of accepted students are men and 63% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 86%, and the acceptance rate for women is 88%.
Average Test Scores
About 2% of students accepted to BHSU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 458 and 628. Math scores were between 435 and 588.
Can I Afford Black Hills State University?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
Student Loan Debt
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At BHSU, approximately 71% of students took out student loans averaging $7,063 a year. That adds up to $28,252 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at BHSU is 8.2%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you'll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans.
Black Hills State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 290 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 2,029 full-time undergraduates at BHSU, 38% are male and 62% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of Black Hills State University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 17 |
Black or African American | 32 |
Hispanic or Latino | 118 |
White | 1,612 |
International Students | 54 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 196 |
Geographic Diversity
South Dakota students aren't the only ones who study at Black Hills State University. At this time, 19 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 32 countries are represented at BHSU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are South Korea, Japan, and Nigeria.
Online Learning at Black Hills State University
The following chart shows how the online learning population at BHSU has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 9th most popular in South Dakota for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.
Online Growth Rankings of BHSU
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Black Hills State University was 5.2%. This is the #1,656 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at BHSU regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of BHSU majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
Major | 1-Year Growth Rate |
---|---|
Education | 8% |
Teacher Education Grade Specific | 13% |
Teacher Education Subject Specific | 8% |
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at BHSU ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at BHSU.
Major | Growth Rate Rank | |
---|---|---|
Sustainability Science | #10 | |
Human Resource Management | #98 | |
Curriculum & Instruction | #99 | |
Teacher Education Subject Specific | #147 | |
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies | #154 | |
Teacher Education Grade Specific | #198 | |
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities | #370 | |
Liberal Arts General Studies | #370 | |
Education | #469 |
When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.
Black Hills State University Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
References
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
- College Factual
- National Center for Education Statistics
- Image Credit: By Virginia State Parks staff under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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