Dakota State University Overview
Located in Madison, South Dakota, Dakota State University is a public institution. Madison is a good match for students who enjoy small-town life.
What Is Dakota State University Known For?
- Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at Dakota State.
- In 2017-2018, 72% of the faculty were full-time.
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Dakota State University Rankings
Dakota State landed the #398 spot in our 2022 ranking of best colleges. We analyzed 2,587 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking.
These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.
Dakota State has been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.
Rank | Ranking Name | Share |
---|---|---|
#22 | Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#78 | Best Associate Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
Program Level Awards
These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Dakota State.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards Dakota State has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#3 | Best Health Information/Medical Records Technology/Technician Schools | College Factual |
#5 | Best Health & Medical Administrative Services Associate Degree Schools | College Factual |
#20 | Best Value Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies | College Factual |
#101 | Best Allied Health Professions Associate Degree Schools | College Factual |
#140 | Best Healthcare Schools | Healthcare Degree Search |
#158 | Best Health Professions Associate Degree Schools | College Factual |
Where Is Dakota State University?

Contact details for Dakota State are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 820 N Washington Ave, Madison, SD 57042-1799 |
Phone: | 605-256-5111 |
Twitter: | http://twitter.com/DakotaState |
How Do I Get Into Dakota State?
You can apply to Dakota State online at: https://dsu.edu/apply.html
Admission Requirements for Dakota State
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | required |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | neither required nor recommended |
Recommendations | neither required nor recommended |
SAT or ACT Scores | considered but not required |
TOEFL | required |
How Hard Is It To Get Into Dakota State?
Approximately 66% of accepted students are men and 33% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 84%, and the acceptance rate for women is 83%.
Average Test Scores
About 11% of students accepted to Dakota State submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 500 and 610. Math scores were between 510 and 580.
Can I Afford Dakota 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 Dakota State, approximately 67% of students took out student loans averaging $7,649 a year. That adds up to $30,596 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Dakota State is 7.7%. 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.
Dakota State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 446 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 1,495 full-time undergraduates at Dakota State, 71% are male and 29% are female.

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

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 23 |
Black or African American | 39 |
Hispanic or Latino | 68 |
White | 1,222 |
International Students | 28 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 115 |
Geographic Diversity
South Dakota students aren't the only ones who study at Dakota State University. At this time, 22 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 25 countries are represented at Dakota State. The most popular countries sending students to the school are India, Nepal, and Nigeria.
Online Learning at Dakota State University
The following chart shows how the online learning population at Dakota State has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 3rd most popular in South Dakota for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.
Online Affordability Rankings of Dakota State
The following table shows how Dakota State is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.
Major | Tuition for In-State Students | Tuition for Out-of-State Students |
---|---|---|
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences | #1 | #1 |
Intelligence & Command Control Operations | #3 | #1 |
Writing Studies | #10 | #1 |
Medical Illustration & Informatics | #10 | #1 |
Information Technology | #13 | #1 |
Information Science | #19 | #1 |
Computer Information Systems | #25 | #1 |
Special Education | #31 | #16 |
Finance & Financial Management | #31 | #16 |
Health & Medical Administrative Services | #31 | #15 |
Accounting | #31 | #24 |
English Language & Literature | #51 | #7 |
Marketing | #55 | #33 |
Online Growth Rankings of Dakota State
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Dakota State University was 6.6%. This is the #786 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at Dakota State regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Dakota State majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
Major | 1-Year Growth Rate |
---|---|
Accounting | 18% |
Computer & Information Sciences | 28% |
Computer Information Systems | 26% |
Computer Software & Applications | 61% |
Computer Systems Networking | 50% |
Education | 17% |
Finance & Financial Management | 33% |
Health Professions | 5% |
Information Technology | 31% |
Instructional Media Design | 63% |
Marketing | 36% |
Special Education | 13% |
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Dakota State ranks compared to all other mostly online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at Dakota State.
Major | Growth Rate Rank | |
---|---|---|
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences | #11 | |
Intelligence & Command Control Operations | #11 | |
Medical Illustration & Informatics | #26 | |
Mathematics | #52 | |
Mathematics & Statistics | #71 | |
Information Science | #103 | |
Computer Software & Applications | #110 | |
Instructional Media Design | #132 | |
Finance & Financial Management | #132 | |
Special Education | #176 | |
Marketing | #207 | |
Information Technology | #271 | |
Computer Information Systems | #296 | |
Teacher Education Grade Specific | #318 | |
Health & Medical Administrative Services | #441 | |
Accounting | #472 | |
Liberal Arts General Studies | #490 | |
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities | #490 |
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%.
Dakota 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 Jlgrabinger under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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