South Dakota
School of Mines and Technology
Public College in Rapid City, SD. Six-year graduation rate 53%. Median 10-year earnings $72,257.
Ten-year median earnings of $72,257 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Six-year completion sits at 53%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. Graduates leave owing a median of $27,000 — a substantial load to service on these earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology accepts 80% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. 1,565 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield sits at 38% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. The score bands below rest on the 25% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 560–660 | 116 (25%) |
| SAT Math | 580–680 | |
| ACT Composite | 24–30 | 364 (79%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology →Academics
Completion is middling: 53% finish inside six years. First-year retention of 84% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. The part-time picture is harder: 67% return, against 84% full-time. The 12:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,043 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $20,267 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Income makes less difference than usual: $15,348 at $0–30k, $21,993 at $110k+. About 69% get grants averaging $6,832, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. 43% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 484 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $15,348 |
| $30–48k | $17,909 |
| $48–75k | $18,366 |
| $75–110k | $21,176 |
| $110k+ | $21,993 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 876 of these 2,043 students, totalling $5,349,189 — an average of $6,106 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Pennington County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)