2023 Best Value Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota
Identifying High-Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
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. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school or bootcamp that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota ranking. This report analyzed 5 schools in South Dakota to see which ones offered the best value undergraduate certificate programs for students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.
This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.
For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
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Top Value Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our analysis found Lake Area Technical Institute to be the best value school for students who want to pursue a undergraduate certificate in South Dakota. LATI is located in Watertown, South Dakota and has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 225 undergraduate certificates to qualified students.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at LATI are $6,718 per year. On average, undergraduate certificate students take out $14,587 in loans while pursuing their degree.
Some students may be able to take online classes at LATI. During the 2019-2020 year, about 44% of the undergraduates at the school took at least one online course.
LATI also made our Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota list, coming in at #3.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Mitchell Technical College. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota list. Mitchell Tech is located in Mitchell, South Dakota and has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 132 undergraduate certificates to qualified students.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Mitchell Tech are $7,524 per year. Undergraduate Certificate recipients from this school accumulate an average of $8,822 in student debt by the time they complete their degree.
Mitchell Tech does have options available for those who want to take online classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 27% of undergraduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Mitchell Tech not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #1 on our Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota list.
The excellent undergraduate certificate programs at Southeast Technical College helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value schools in South Dakota. This small public school is located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and it awarded 221 undergraduate certificates in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at Southeast Tech are $7,650 a year. On average, undergraduate certificate students take out $20,041 in loans while pursuing their degree.
Southeast Tech does offer online classes for certain degree levels. During the 2019-2020 year, about 45% of the undergraduates at the school took at least one online course.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Southeast Tech is ranked #2 for overall quality in South Dakota.
The excellent undergraduate certificate programs at Western Dakota Technical Institute helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value schools in South Dakota. Rapid City, South Dakota is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out undergraduate certificates to 148 students in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at Western Dakota Tech are $8,332 a year. By the time they get their undergraduate certificate, students from this school have racked up an average of $17,540 in student loans.
Some students may be able to take online classes at Western Dakota Tech. In fact, around 43% of the undergraduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Western Dakota Tech did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota list.
A rank of #5 on this year’s list means National American University - Rapid City is a great place for students working on their undergraduate certificate who want the most bang for their educational buck. This small private for-profit school is located in Rapid City, South Dakota, and it awarded 15 undergraduate certificates in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at National American University - Rapid City are $15,660 per year. On average, undergraduate certificate students take out $27,626 in loans while pursuing their degree.
Interested in an online degree? Then you definitely want to check out National American University - Rapid City. Every undergraduate student at the school took at least one class online.
National American University - Rapid City did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools in South Dakota list.
Read full report on National American University - Rapid City
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 5 schools only.
References
- 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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