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Black Hills State University

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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?

0 Undergraduate Awards
$21,718 Avg Cost After Aid
97% Acceptance Rate
  • Students at BHSU have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 2%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
  • The master's degree is the highest award offered at BHSU.
  • In <nil>, 58% of the faculty were full-time.
  • A student who earns a bachelor's degree from BHSU makes roughly $42,217 a year. This is 3% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.

Where Is Black Hills State University?

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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

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 Considered but not required
TOEFL Neither required nor recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into BHSU?

97% Acceptance Rate
68% Of Accepted Are Women
6% Submit SAT Scores
BHSU has the high acceptance rate of 97%, which means it is fairly easy to gain admittance as long as you submit a complete application with requested materials.

Approximately 32% of accepted students are men and 68% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 98%, and the acceptance rate for women is 97%.

Average Test Scores

About 6% 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 520 and 580. Math scores were between 450 and 570.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Black Hills State University  ( 520 to 580 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Black Hills State University  ( 450 to 570 )
200
800
BHSU received ACT scores from 79% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 16 and 23. Math scores were between 16 and 23. Composite scores were between 18 and 23.

ACT English Scores for Black Hills State University  ( 16 to 23 )
1
36
ACT Math Scores for Black Hills State University  ( 16 to 23 )
1
36
ACT Composite Scores for Black Hills State University  ( 18 to 23 )
1
36

Can I Afford Black Hills State University?

$21,718 Net Price
60% Take Out Loans
2.3% Loan Default Rate
The overall average net price of BHSU is $21,718. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At BHSU, approximately 60% of students took out student loans averaging $6,660 a year. That adds up to $26,640 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at BHSU is 2.3%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Black Hills State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

1,697 Full-Time Undergraduates
66% Women
10% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 3,346 undergraduate students at BHSU, with 1,697 being full-time and 1,649 being part-time.

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There are also 193 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 1,697 full-time undergraduates at BHSU, 34% are male and 66% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 7
Black or African American 10
Hispanic or Latino 64
White 1,472
International Students 32
Other Races/Ethnicities 112

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

1,356 Took All Classes Online
2,320 Took At Least One Class Online
7.8% Avg Growth Over 4 Years
There are 6 bachelor’s degree and 15 master’s degree programs available online at BHSU. In 2020-2021, 2,320 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at BHSU has changed over the last few years.

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This school is the 5th most popular in South Dakota for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2020-2021.

Online Growth Rankings of BHSU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Black Hills State University was 7.8%. This is the #1,470 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at BHSU regardless of major.

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%.

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.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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