2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota For Those Making $0-$30k

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 559,661 liberal arts general studies students received their degree, making the major the 1st most popular in the country. In 2017-2018, liberal arts general studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $26,786 and had an average of $16,538 in loans still to pay off.

Across South Dakota, there were 259 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,700 and $21,538 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 116 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality liberal arts general studies programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the liberal arts general studies program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts General Studies Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota For Those Making $0-$30k

The colleges and universities below are the best for south dakota bachelor’s degree liberal arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies (Income $0-$30k) in South Dakota

#1

South Dakota State University

Brookings, South Dakota

#2 in overall quality

$15,285 Average Net Price

$32,569 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend South Dakota State University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota For Those Making $0-$30k. Brookings, South Dakota is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s liberal arts degrees to 30 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at South Dakota State, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” ranking. The yearly cost to attend South Dakota State University is $15,285 for south dakota bachelor’s degree liberal arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

The low student loan default rate of 3.8% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read more about Liberal Arts General Studies at South Dakota State University

#2

University of South Dakota

Vermillion, South Dakota

#1 in overall quality

$14,517 Average Net Price

$35,274 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of South Dakota. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Dakota For Those Making $0-$30k. USD is a public institution located in Vermillion, South Dakota. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 45 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

USD also made our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Dakota” list, coming in at #1. The yearly cost to attend University of South Dakota is $14,517 for south dakota bachelor’s degree liberal arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

The low student loan default rate of 4.8% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Full USD Liberal Arts General Studies Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies (Income $0-$30k) in the Plains States Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies (Income $0-$30k)

Notes and References

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%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

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