Which Northern State major has the lowest debt?

Teacher Education graduates leave with a median of $24,242 in federal loans, the lowest among 5 Northern State bachelor's programs that report debt.

How much does Northern State cost?

In-state tuition and fees are $8,845 a year, and $11,947 for out-of-state students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $15,812 a year.

How many Northern State programs report graduate pay?

6 bachelor's programs at Northern State report first-year pay, and 5 of them also report federal debt.

Northern State Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Northern State University
Public university
Aberdeen, SD
1,273 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

6 Northern State bachelor's programs report what graduates earn. Accounting pays the most in the first year ($51,239), and Kinesiology and Exercise Science the least ($40,123). The median program pays $45,967.

In-state tuition and fees$8,845Per year. Out-of-state $11,947

Average net price after aid$15,812Per year

Graduation rate49%Within 6 years

Admission rate93%Of applicants

All 6 bachelor's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in South Dakota" compares first-year pay with the same field's bachelor's programs across South Dakota. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in South Dakota
1	AccountingAbout 20 graduates a year	$51,239	$56,764	$29,816	2nd of 4
2	FinanceAbout 7 graduates a year	$47,781	$70,144	Not reported	2nd of 2
3	Teacher EducationAbout 35 graduates a year	$46,042	$44,043	$24,242	3rd of 8
4	MarketingAbout 7 graduates a year	$45,891	$47,201	$26,000	2nd of 2
5	Business AdministrationAbout 26 graduates a year	$43,667	$53,939	$27,000	7th of 8
6	Kinesiology and Exercise ScienceAbout 30 graduates a year	$40,123	$53,946	$24,500	2nd of 4

Program names link to the program's own page, and South Dakota ranks link to the full ranking for the field. A program gets its own page when it reports both pay and debt and at least five South Dakota programs in the field do too.

One more bachelor's program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Accounting$51,239
Finance$47,781
Teacher Education$46,042
Marketing$45,891
Business Administration$43,667

Lowest median debt

Teacher Education$24,242
Kinesiology and Exercise Science$24,500
Marketing$26,000
Business Administration$27,000
Accounting$29,816

Largest programs

Teacher EducationAbout 35 graduates a year
Kinesiology and Exercise ScienceAbout 30 graduates a year
Business AdministrationAbout 26 graduates a year
AccountingAbout 20 graduates a year
FinanceAbout 7 graduates a year

Common questions

Accounting graduates earn a median of $51,239 in their first year, the most of 6 Northern State bachelor's programs that report pay.

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Tuition, net price, graduation rate, and admission rate are for the whole school, not one program.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of South Dakota rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
NCES, IPEDS tuition and fees, 2023-24, for in-district tuition labels