Valley City State University Overview

Valley City State University is a public institution located in Valley City, North Dakota. The surrounding location of Valley City is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town.

What Is Valley City State University Known For?

• The master's degree is the highest award offered at Valley City State University.
• In 2019-2020, 54% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from Valley City State University with a bachelor's degree make about $45,429 a year. That's 11% more than those who graduate from other schools.

Valley City State University Rankings

According to our 2023 analysis, Valley City State University is ranked #61 out of 2,018 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This lands it a coveted spot in the top 5% of all colleges and universities in the country. It is also ranked #1 out of 11 schools in North Dakota.

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.

Valley City State University has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#32	Best Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#61	Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Valley City State University.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Value Teaching English or French Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#5	Best Wildlife Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best Value Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best Teaching English or French Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#9	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#11	Best Value Natural Resources & Conservation Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#13	Best Value Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#13	Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#16	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Valley City State University has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#4	Best School Librarian/School Library Media Specialist Graduate Degree Schools	College Factual
#7	Best Value Graduate Degree Colleges for Teacher Education Subject Specific	College Factual
#16	Best Teaching Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#21	Best Value Colleges for Education	College Factual
#37	Best Value Colleges for Teacher Education Grade Specific	College Factual
#44	Best Physical Education Teaching & Coaching Schools	College Factual

Where Is Valley City State University?

Contact details for Valley City State University are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	101 College St Sw, Valley City, ND 58072
Phone:	701-845-7990
Website:	www.vcsu.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/valleycitystate
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/VCSUVikings

How Do I Get Into Valley City State University?

You can apply to Valley City State University online at: www.vcsu.edu/admissions/apply/

Admission Requirements for Valley City State University

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	neither required nor recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Valley City State University?

The acceptance rate at Valley City State University is 81%. This means that is not quite as selective as some schools, but you'll still need to submit a good application if you want to be considered by the admissions department.

Approximately 54% of accepted students are men and 46% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 80%, and the acceptance rate for women is 81%.

Average Test Scores

About 8% of students accepted to Valley City State University submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 460 and 520. Math scores were between 420 and 550.

Valley City State University received ACT scores from 82% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 15 and 22. Math scores were between 16 and 23. Composite scores were between 17 and 22.

Can I Afford Valley City State University?

The overall average net price of Valley City State University is $19,852. 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

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 Valley City State University, approximately 70% of students took out student loans averaging $6,135 a year. That adds up to $24,540 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Valley City State University is 7.3%. 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.

Valley City State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 1,541 undergraduate students at Valley City State University, with 894 being full-time and 647 being part-time.

There are also 135 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 894 full-time undergraduates at Valley City State University, 44% are male and 56% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Valley City State University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	5
Black or African American	34
Hispanic or Latino	50
White	747
International Students	16
Other Races/Ethnicities	42

Geographic Diversity

North Dakota students aren't the only ones who study at Valley City State University. At this time, 14 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 7 countries are represented at Valley City State University. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Canada, Australia, and Saint Lucia.

Online Learning at Valley City State University

In 2019-2020, 979 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Valley City State University has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 2nd most popular in North 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 Valley City State University

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Valley City State University was $7,942 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $12,532. The following table shows how Valley City State University 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
Music	#7	#7
Visual & Performing Arts	#13	#23
General Social Sciences	#16	#4
General English Literature	#19	#13
Management Information Systems	#19	#28
Communication & Journalism	#22	#26
Communication & Media Studies	#25	#29
History	#34	#18
English Language & Literature	#39	#52
History	#40	#51
Teacher Education Grade Specific	#58	#28
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#64	#63
Education	#66	#92

Online Growth Rankings of Valley City State University

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Valley City State University was -8.2%. This is the #1,973 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Valley City State University regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Valley City State University majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Business, Management & Marketing	4%
Communication & Journalism	38%
Communication & Media Studies	38%
English Language & Literature	67%
General English Literature	67%
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities	94%
Liberal Arts General Studies	94%
Music	29%
Teacher Education Subject Specific	2%
Visual & Performing Arts	33%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Valley City State University 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 Valley City State University.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Music	#57
Teaching English or French	#146
Management Information Systems	#149
General English Literature	#150
Visual & Performing Arts	#206
English Language & Literature	#266
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#463

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%.

Valley City State University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Basic Certificate	Associate’s	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
Teacher Education Subject Specific	62	0	58	13	22	155
Teacher Education Grade Specific	7	0	103	0	14	124
Music	12	0	16	0	0	28
Business Administration & Management	0	0	23	0	0	23
Health & Physical Education	10	0	8	0	0	18
Liberal Arts General Studies	5	3	8	0	0	16
Health/Medical Prep Programs	0	0	14	0	0	14
Wildlife Management	0	0	11	0	0	11
Communication & Media Studies	0	0	8	0	0	8
General Psychology	0	0	8	0	0	8
Human Services	0	0	7	0	0	7
General Biology	0	0	6	0	0	6
Allied Health Professions	0	0	6	0	0	6
General Sales & Marketing	4	0	0	0	0	4
Computer Engineering	0	0	4	0	0	4
Computer Information Systems	1	0	2	0	0	3
Teaching English or French	0	0	0	3	0	3
General English Literature	0	0	3	0	0	3
History	0	0	3	0	0	3
Chemistry	0	0	2	0	0	2
Fine & Studio Arts	0	0	2	0	0	2
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	0	0	1	0	0	1
General Social Sciences	0	0	1	0	0	1
Management Information Systems	0	0	0	0	0	0
Natural Resources Conservation	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	101	3	294	16	36	450

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 Tim Evanson under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.