University of South Dakota Career Outcomes & Earnings

University of South Dakota shows a comparatively favorable return profile, with its return pillar in the 69th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, according to Azimuth. Graduates earn about $5,911 more than the model expects for similar students.

Azimuth places that earnings-beyond-expectations result, the gap between graduate earnings and the model’s expectation for similar students, in the 74th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $8,700.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $2,789. Federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $62,334 four years after completion, in the 58th percentile.

The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $57,301, with earnings $5,033 above it. Earnings beyond expectations and the peer comparison point in the same direction.

Earnings can differ markedly across the program mix at University of South Dakota: the downside scenario is $47,446, and the upside scenario is $72,880. These scenarios describe lower- and higher-earning program clusters, not observed groups of graduates.

Among individual fields, median earnings four years after completion are $74,816 in Health and Medical Administrative Services, $73,025 in Nursing, and $71,463 in Economics. Those field results help explain the distance between the modeled lower and upper scenarios.

At University of South Dakota, an estimated 27.8% of graduates continue to graduate study; the estimate is modeled from the program mix rather than observed enrollment. The four-year earnings measure covers federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled, so it does not include those still pursuing further study.

At University of South Dakota, four-year earnings differ sharply across fields, so the program selected matters to the return picture. Health and Medical Administrative Services sits at the higher end, with median earnings of $74,816 four years after completion and 19 degrees awarded.

Nursing also posts higher earnings of $73,025 across 163 degrees awarded. The more moderate-earning fields in this group include Business Administration and Management, at $64,890 with 75 degrees awarded, and Teacher Education, at $46,034 with 100 degrees awarded.

Higher earnings appear in health-related fields here, while the large education field sits at a more moderate level.

Health Professions shapes the academic mix, accounting for 30.3% of bachelor’s degrees awarded. Published earnings cover 23 bachelor’s fields, giving readers a view of outcomes across a broad set of programs.

Among the largest fields, Nursing awarded 163 degrees and had median earnings of $73,025 four years after completion; Teacher Education awarded 100 degrees and had median earnings of $46,034; Health Sciences awarded 78 degrees and had median earnings of $61,518; Business Administration and Management awarded 75 degrees and had median earnings of $64,890; and Biology awarded 69 degrees and had median earnings of $58,099. The range across these large fields makes program choice especially relevant to the earnings picture.