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Best Value Nursing Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota

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2023 Best Value Nursing Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

4 Colleges
$6,346 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$57,601 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Associate Degree School for You

Out of the majors we analyze each year, nursing was the most popular one in South Dakota. In total, 1,022 people earned a degree or certificate in the field from a school in South Dakota.

It's not easy to decide which healthcare program to enroll in when you have so many options available. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Healthcare Degree Search has created its Best Value Nursing Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota ranking. This report analyzed 4 schools in South Dakota to see which ones offered the best value associate degree programs for nursing 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.

Best South Dakota Schools for Affordable Quality for an Associate in Nursing

Our 2023 rankings named Oglala Lakota College the best value school in South Dakota for nursing students working on their associate degree. Located in the remote area of Kyle, Oglala Lakota College is a public school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Oglala Lakota College are $2,684 a year. Nursing majors at Oglala Lakota College take out an average of $11,529 in student loans while working on their Associate Degree.

Read full report on Nursing at Oglala Lakota College

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Lake Area Technical Institute. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota list. LATI is a small public school located in the town of Watertown.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at LATI are $6,718 a year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, LATI is ranked #4 for overall quality for nursing in South Dakota.

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#3

Southeast Technical College

Sioux Falls, SD

Out of the 4 schools in South Dakota that were part of this year’s ranking, Southeast Technical College landed the # 3 spot on the list. Southeast Tech is a small public school located in the rural area of Sioux Falls.

Southeast Tech undergraduate students pay an average of $7,650 in in-state tuition and fees each year. The average amount in student loans that nursing majors at Southeast Tech take out while working on their Associate Degree is $33,072.

Southeast Tech also made our Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in South Dakota list, coming in at #2.

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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Western Dakota Technical Institute is a great value for nursing students working on their associate degree. Western Dakota Tech is a small public school located in the rural area of Rapid City.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Western Dakota Tech are $8,332 per year.

Read full report on Nursing at Western Dakota Technical Institute

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Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Minnesota 14,890
Iowa 2,966
Missouri 6,840
Nebraska 1,908
Kansas 2,633
North Dakota 976

Nursing is one of 30 different types of healthcare programs to choose from.

Nursing Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing 266,651
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing 16,104
Nursing Administration 9,838
Nursing Practice 7,992
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 5,092
Nursing Science 4,600
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing 2,287
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing 2,021
Nurse Anesthetist 1,936
Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing 1,883
Critical Care Nursing 773
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing 563
School Nursing 553
Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery 509
Clinical Nurse Leader 444
Clinical Nurse Specialist 419
Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing 331
Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing 181
Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing 57
Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing 53
Palliative Care Nursing 14
Forensic Nursing 14

Related Major Annual Graduates
Health & Medical Administrative Services 89,359
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services 84,492
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 84,274
Allied Health Professions 82,308
Public Health 40,596

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 4 schools only.

  • 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 the rest 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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