Enrollment Trends at USD

The student population at University of South Dakota is 10,619 (7,619 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students) . The number of students has increased by 648 (6.50%) over the past decade.

Class Level: The percentage of undergraduate students at USD is 71.75% which is increased by 184 over last 10 years. The graduate student population increased by 464 and it has been increasing.
Gender Breakdown: In 2025, there were 58 male students for every 100 female students, down from 64 in 2015.
3,777 students enrolled in online degree program exclusively and the number of online students has increased by 26.19% since 2015.

School Home 2024 Student Population

Student Population Changes

The average student population over the last 11 years is 9,952 where 10,619 students are attending the school for the academic year 2024-2025.

Total enrollment fluctuated between 2016 and 2025, with 6 year-over-year increases and 3 decreases. It peaked at 10,619 students in 2025 and was lowest at 9,459 in 2021. Overall, enrollment rose from 9,971 to 10,619 students, a net gain of 648 (6.5%).

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

Year	Total	Undergraduate			Graduate
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	9,971	7,435	2,806	4,629	2,536	1,098	1,438
2016-17	10,038 67	7,500 65	2,850 44	4,650 21	2,538 2	1,077 -21	1,461 23
2017-18	10,261 223	7,648 148	2,885 35	4,763 113	2,613 75	1,099 22	1,514 53
2018-19	10,066 -195	7,590 -58	2,808 -77	4,782 19	2,476 -137	1,064 -35	1,412 -102
2019-20	9,920 -146	7,475 -115	2,753 -55	4,722 -60	2,445 -31	1,013 -51	1,432 20
2020-21	9,459 -461	7,103 -372	2,502 -251	4,601 -121	2,356 -89	936 -77	1,420 -12
2021-22	9,464 5	6,987 -116	2,508 6	4,479 -122	2,477 121	921 -15	1,556 136
2022-23	9,856 392	7,132 145	2,570 62	4,562 83	2,724 247	1,071 150	1,653 97
2023-24	9,868 12	7,095 -37	2,516 -54	4,579 17	2,773 49	1,166 95	1,607 -46
2024-25	10,619 751	7,619 524	2,694 178	4,925 346	3,000 227	1,186 20	1,814 207
Average	9,952	7,358	2,689	4,669	2,594	1,063	1,531

University of South Dakota Enrollment Trends Chart

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Undergraduate students over the last 11 years is 7,358 where 7,619 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 University of South Dakota since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	7,435	4,961	1,969	2,992	2,474	837	1,637
2016-17	7,500	4,943	1,986	2,957	2,557	864	1,693
2017-18	7,648	4,908	1,930	2,978	2,740	955	1,785
2018-19	7,590	4,969	1,889	3,080	2,621	919	1,702
2019-20	7,475	4,899	1,814	3,085	2,576	939	1,637
2020-21	7,103	4,741	1,752	2,989	2,362	750	1,612
2021-22	6,987	4,502	1,667	2,835	2,485	841	1,644
2022-23	7,132	4,544	1,633	2,911	2,588	937	1,651
2023-24	7,095	4,577	1,588	2,989	2,518	928	1,590
2024-25	7,619	4,792	1,701	3,091	2,827	993	1,834
Average	7,358	7,358	1,793	2,991	7,358	896	1,679

University of South Dakota Undergraduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Graduate Enrollment Changes

The average number of Graduate students over the last 11 years is 2,594 where 3,000 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 University of South Dakota since 2015.

Year	Total	Full-time			Part-time
Year	Total	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
2015-16	2,536	1,290	566	724	1,246	532	714
2016-17	2,538	1,310	571	739	1,228	506	722
2017-18	2,613	1,290	565	725	1,323	534	789
2018-19	2,476	1,283	572	711	1,193	492	701
2019-20	2,445	1,285	549	736	1,160	464	696
2020-21	2,356	1,324	559	765	1,032	377	655
2021-22	2,477	1,362	559	803	1,115	362	753
2022-23	2,724	1,465	665	800	1,259	406	853
2023-24	2,773	1,568	715	853	1,205	451	754
2024-25	3,000	1,717	743	974	1,283	443	840
Average	2,594	2,594	606	783	2,594	457	748

University of South Dakota Graduate Enrollment Trends Chart

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

The percentage of white students is 76.45%. The percentage was 84.97% 10 years ago and USD still has a high percentage of white students. 1.57% of enrolled students is Asian and 2.97% is black students. Hispanic students comprise 4.76% of the student body.

Over the past 10 years, the racial composition has shifted. The percentage of white students decreased from 84.97% to 76.45%. Asian enrollment grew from 1.40% to 1.57%. Black student enrollment increased from 2.39% to 2.97%. Hispanic student representation expanded from 2.93% to 4.76%.

The overall racial diversity, measured by the Census Bureau Diversity Index, is 0.4112 which indicates that somewhat diverse. This increased from 0.2754 a decade ago, suggesting that racial diversity has improved.

The following table and chart illustrate the student population trends by race/ethnicity at University of South Dakota 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	172	140	238	292	11	8,472	271
2016-17	197	144	290	324	9	8,390	287
2017-18	194	155	274	345	7	8,552	302
2018-19	168	143	305	386	12	8,319	342
2019-20	159	143	281	367	8	8,209	316
2020-21	146	141	255	337	5	7,793	331
2021-22	145	150	261	356	4	7,657	319
2022-23	161	130	271	389	8	7,815	301
2023-24	154	138	277	443	4	7,717	291
2024-25	194	167	315	505	5	8,118	274
Average	169	145	277	374	7	8,104	303

University of South Dakota Enrollment by Race Trends Chart

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

3,777 students are enrolled in online degree programs exclusively for the academic year 2024-2025, which is 36% of total students. The number of online students has increased 26.19% since 2015. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in the online student population by enrolled type at University of South Dakota from 2015 to 2025.

Year	Total Enrollment	Online Completely	Enrolled in Some Online Courses	Not Enrolled in Online Courses
2015-16	9,971	2,993	1,726	5,252
2016-17	10,038	2,768	1,670	5,600
2017-18	10,261	3,087	1,677	5,497
2018-19	10,066	2,890	1,737	5,439
2019-20	9,920	2,904	2,035	4,981
2020-21	9,459	2,860	3,143	3,456
2021-22	9,464	3,109	2,189	4,166
2022-23	9,856	3,288	2,427	4,141
2023-24	9,868	3,259	2,836	3,773
2024-25	10,619	3,777	3,110	3,732
Average	9,952	3,094	2,255	4,604

Most Searched South Dakota Colleges (last 30 days)

Undergraduate

National American University-Ellsworth Private, 4-year | Box Elder
University of South Dakota Public, 4-year | Vermillion
South Dakota State University Public, 4-year | Brookings
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Public, 4-year | Rapid City
Dakota State University Public, 4-year | Madison
Presentation College Private, 4-year | Aberdeen
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California Intercontinental University Private, 4-year | Sioux Falls
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Graduate

Dakota State University Public, 4-year | Madison
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University of South Dakota Public, 4-year | Vermillion
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Dakota State University Public, 4-year | Madison
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Stewart School Private, Less than 2-year | Sioux Falls
Dakota State University Public, 4-year | Madison
Mitchell Technical College Public, 2-4 year | Mitchell
National American University-Watertown Private, 4-year | Watertown
Presentation College Private, 4-year | Aberdeen
The Salon Professional Academy Private, Less than 2-year | Rapid City
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Public, 4-year | Rapid City
National American University-Rapid City Private, 4-year | Rapid City
Western Dakota Technical College Public, 2-4 year | Rapid City
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Enrollment Trends at USD

Student Population Changes

Undergraduate Enrollment Changes

Graduate Enrollment Changes

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Changes

Distance Learning (Online Courses) Enrollment Changes

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