South Dakota has 9 private and 8 public 4-year colleges that enroll 6,148 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $20,165 for in-state students and $22,758 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in South Dakota charge around $21,508 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, South Dakota provided $1.9 million in financial aid to 1,352 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $26.4 million in grants and scholarships to 4,391 students.

South Dakota receives less than 1% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 1,477 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $6.6 million in pell grant ($4,903 per student on average), and 3,508 students received a total amount of $17.9 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($5,790 per student on average).