PIERRE, S.D. – Fall headcount enrollment at South Dakota’s six public universities is nearly 1 percent higher system-wide than the previous academic year, totaling 33,642 students.
In addition, the South Dakota Board of Regents (BOR) welcomed 5,259 first-year students. The incoming 2022 – 2023 academic class was up 6.3 percent for the South Dakota public university system.
The board also measures enrollment based on full-time equivalent (FTE) students. The FTE count takes the number of credit hours and applies that figure to the overall student headcount.
A full-time workload is considered 15 credit hours for undergraduates, 12 credit hours for master’s and doctoral degrees, 15 credits for law students, and 19 credits for medical students. This year’s FTE enrollment remained largely unchanged for the public university system.
The difference is primarily due to increased dual credit courses offered at the high school level.
Black Hills State University in Spearfish saw a 3.2-percent decrease in its enrollment with 481 first time freshmen and 2,114 full time students for a total of 3,425.
The South Dakota Mines saw a 3.1-percent increase with 538 first time freshman and 2,041 full time students for a total of 2,493.
The biggest increase was at the University of South Dakota, who saw a 4.1-percent increase over 2021. South Dakota State saw a slight decrease of 1.2-percent.
