Enrollment Trends at South Dakota State

The student population at South Dakota State University is 12,056 (10,719 undergraduate and 1,337 graduate students) . The number of students has decreased by 520 (4.13%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at South Dakota State is 88.91% which is decreased by 275 over last 10 years. The graduate student population decreased by 245 and it has been decreasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 79 male students for every 100 female students, down from 87 in 2015.
2,300 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 77.20% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 11,906 where 12,056 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 4 year-over-year increases and 5 decreases. It peaked at 12,600 students in 2017 and was lowest at 11,327 in 2023. Overall, enrollment dropped from 12,576 to 12,056 students, a net loss of 520 (4.1%).

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in student population by gender at South Dakota State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	12,576	10,994	5,132	5,862	1,582	720	862
2016-17	12,600 24	10,946 -48	5,184 52	5,762 -100	1,654 72	720	934 72
2017-18	12,516 -84	10,885 -61	5,144 -40	5,741 -21	1,631 -23	715 -5	916 -18
2018-19	12,104 -412	10,544 -341	4,938 -206	5,606 -135	1,560 -71	657 -58	903 -13
2019-20	11,512 -592	10,067 -477	4,698 -240	5,369 -237	1,445 -115	603 -54	842 -61
2020-21	11,405 -107	9,976 -91	4,565 -133	5,411 42	1,429 -16	532 -71	897 55
2021-22	11,465 60	9,847 -129	4,447 -118	5,400 -11	1,618 189	603 71	1,015 118
2022-23	11,327 -138	9,917 70	4,407 -40	5,510 110	1,410 -208	544 -59	866 -149
2023-24	11,498 171	10,177 260	4,507 100	5,670 160	1,321 -89	571 27	750 -116
2024-25	12,056 558	10,719 542	4,748 241	5,971 301	1,337 16	561 -10	776 26
Average	11,906	10,407	4,777	5,630	1,499	623	876

South Dakota State University Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 10,407 where 10,719 students are attending the Undergraduate school for the academic year 2024-2025. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Undergraduate enrollment by attending status and gender at South Dakota State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	10,994	8,559	4,222	4,337	2,435	910	1,525
2016-17	10,946	8,474	4,198	4,276	2,472	986	1,486
2017-18	10,885	8,425	4,227	4,198	2,460	917	1,543
2018-19	10,544	8,169	4,037	4,132	2,375	901	1,474
2019-20	10,067	7,971	3,921	4,050	2,096	777	1,319
2020-21	9,976	7,788	3,724	4,064	2,188	841	1,347
2021-22	9,847	7,558	3,559	3,999	2,289	888	1,401
2022-23	9,917	7,607	3,569	4,038	2,310	838	1,472
2023-24	10,177	7,716	3,622	4,094	2,461	885	1,576
2024-25	10,719	8,133	3,744	4,389	2,586	1,004	1,582
Average	10,407	10,407	3,882	4,158	10,407	895	1,473

South Dakota State University Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 1,499 where 1,337 students are attending the Graduate school for the academic year 2024-2025. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in Graduate enrollment by attending status and gender at South Dakota State University since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	1,582	531	243	288	1,051	477	574
2016-17	1,654	527	249	278	1,127	471	656
2017-18	1,631	548	265	283	1,083	450	633
2018-19	1,560	558	270	288	1,002	387	615
2019-20	1,445	503	221	282	942	382	560
2020-21	1,429	513	218	295	916	314	602
2021-22	1,618	532	241	291	1,086	362	724
2022-23	1,410	548	235	313	862	309	553
2023-24	1,321	567	263	304	754	308	446
2024-25	1,337	520	262	258	817	299	518
Average	1,499	1,499	247	288	1,499	376	588

South Dakota State University Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 80.86%. The percentage was 85.01% 10 years ago and South Dakota State still has a high percentage of white students. 1.31% of enrolled students is Asian and 1.30% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 2.97% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 85.01% to 80.86%. Asian enrollment grew from 1.09% to 1.31%. Black student enrollment decreased from 1.97% to 1.30%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 2.00% to 2.97%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.3443 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.2759 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at South Dakota State University over the past 11 years (2015-2025).

Year	American Indian or Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
Year	2015-16	127	137	248	252	10	10,691	237
2016-17	120	134	247	252	11	10,556	267
2017-18	133	141	252	294	7	10,462	265
2018-19	132	141	253	314	9	10,118	263
2019-20	131	137	213	283	4	9,667	267
2020-21	123	140	218	298	5	9,663	249
2021-22	130	134	207	294	5	9,677	235
2022-23	146	152	181	307	6	9,438	242
2023-24	136	150	144	327	11	9,496	240
2024-25	136	158	157	358	12	9,749	262
Average	131	142	212	298	8	9,952	253

South Dakota State University Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

2,300 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 19% of total students. The number of online students has increased 77.20% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at South Dakota State University from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	12,576	1,298	2,804	8,474
2016-17	12,600	1,472	2,845	8,283
2017-18	12,516	1,576	3,026	7,914
2018-19	12,104	1,570	2,992	7,542
2019-20	11,512	1,535	2,823	7,154
2020-21	11,405	2,028	6,659	2,718
2021-22	11,465	2,166	3,503	5,796
2022-23	11,327	2,128	3,550	5,649
2023-24	11,498	2,126	3,708	5,664
2024-25	12,056	2,300	4,028	5,728
Average	11,906	1,820	3,594	6,492

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Enrollment Trends at South Dakota State

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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