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Best Graduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota

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2023 Best Graduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota

5 Schools Ranked

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Also, there are a number of trade schools and bootcamp with offerings that you might find attractive.

The Best Graduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 5 schools in South Dakota to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best educational experiences for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

Top Graduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota

Learn more about these excellent schools below:

#1

Mount Marty University

Yankton, South Dakota
$9,650 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found Mount Marty University to be the best school for students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in South Dakota.

Mount Marty does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 91% took at least some of their classes online.

Read More…

#2

University of South Dakota

Vermillion, South Dakota
$7,118 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent graduate certificate programs at University of South Dakota helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best schools in South Dakota.

Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at USD. In 2019-2020 about 58% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.

Read More…

#3

Dakota State University

Madison, South Dakota
$6,731 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Dakota State University is a great place for students working on their graduate certificate.

Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Dakota State. In fact, around 96% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.

Read full report on Dakota State University

#4

South Dakota State University

Brookings, South Dakota
$9,384 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 5 schools in South Dakota that were part of this year’s ranking, South Dakota State University landed the # 4 spot on the list.

Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at South Dakota State. In 2019-2020 about 45% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.

Read full report on South Dakota State University

#5

Dakota Wesleyan University

Mitchell, South Dakota

The excellent graduate certificate programs at Dakota Wesleyan University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best schools in South Dakota.

Online graduate courses are available at Dakota Wesleyan University, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 31% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.

Full Dakota Wesleyan University Report

Best Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region

View Best Graduate Certificate Schools Nationwide >

Notes and References

Footnotes

*These averages are for the top 5 schools only.

References

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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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