Sioux Falls’s recent high school graduates have found the state’s public institutions of higher education out of town far more appealing than the private colleges available in town:
Since 2015, the top two schools attended by students from the Sioux Falls School District were the University of South Dakota in Vermillion at 1,331 and South Dakota State University in Brookings at 1,142.
Rounding out the top five were Southeast Technical College in Sioux Falls at 612, Augustana University in Sioux Falls at 495 and the University of Sioux Falls at 317 [Barry Amundson, “Sioux Falls School District Graduates Staying Close to Home for College,” Sioux Falls Live, 2023.09.26].
USD and SDSU each draw more Sioux Falls grads than Augie and USF combined.
32 credits at SDSU (tuition and general activity fee) cost just under $10,000. A year’s full-time tuition at Augie costs $38,150. For that price difference, Mom and Dad could buy Junior a reliable used Prius to drive to SDSU every day throughout the school year and still come out ahead in Year 1.
Interestingly, the University of Nebraska in Lincoln has been a little more popular with Sioux Falls grads than the University of Minnesota in the bigger, bustlier Twin Cities. But add that closer campus in Mankato, and Minnesota appears to be drawing more Sioux Falls students than Nebraska.
Your description of costs is more than a little misleading – sticker prices are not the same thing as what gets actually paid, after grants and other aid packages are distributed. From the US Dept. of Ed’s College Scorecard:
Average annual cost:
USD-$19k
SDSU-$18k
Augie-$27k
USF-$21k
There are differences in cost – but they are nowhere near what you describe.
Yeah, but Augie has hockey!
I see that the Vikings are coming to Madison, WI, to skate against the Badger men’s hockey team on October 7 and 8. The Badgers have a new coach this year, after a disappointing couple seasons. The Badger women’s hockey team won national championship this spring.
Augie has stricter admission requirements, which may account for some of the new numbers. I attended USD.shortly, then Augie, then University of Wisconsin. I thought Augie was the best with UE a close second.
The listed costs are paid by someone. The students going to SDSU and USD are saving donors and Uncle Sam big pots of money.
I attended both USD and Augie like Donald and then a private school in CA. Of the three Augie was the far superior when it can\me to both atmosphere and the quality of courses/learning. And by quality, I am using the definition of quality I learned at Augie – something that actually does what it is intended to do, that fulfills all the requirements for the thing it is named. An easily understood example would be a tablespoon that actually holds liquid (not bent or leaky) and fits into one’s mouth. via a comfortable and straightforward manner.
The colloquial definition of quality goes more like this; One can buy a BMW for 90k and put 400k miles on it before it needs serious repair, or one can by 8 used Hondas @ 20k each and replace each when it breaks down after 50. Go figure. The second approach is the cheap (and typical SD) way.
SD State Representative Mary Fitzgerald District 31: