Northern State University Business Programs

Northern State University is a public institution located in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The location of NSU is a good match for students who are interested in living in a college town while they pursue their degree.

Northern State University Rankings

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at NSU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#5	Best Value International Business Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#18	Best Value Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#23	Best Value Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#26	Best Value Management Information Systems Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#27	Best Value Finance & Financial Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#59	Best Value Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#151	Best Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards NSU has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Banking and Financial Support Services Master’s Degree Schools	College Factual
#1	Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Banking and Financial Support Services	College Factual
#1	Best Banking and Financial Support Services Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#77	Best Value Colleges for Finance & Financial Management	College Factual
#94	Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Marketing	College Factual
#230	Best Schools	Course Advisor

Where Is Northern State University?

Contact details for NSU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	1200 S Jay St, Aberdeen, SD 57401-7198
Phone:	605-626-3011
Website:	www.northern.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Northern-State-University/112538332202097
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/NorthernStateU

How Do I Get Into NSU?

You can apply to NSU online at: https://apply.northern.edu/apply/

Admission Requirements for NSU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	required
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	considered but not required
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into NSU?

The acceptance rate at Northern State University is 79%. This means that is not quite as selective as some schools, but you'll still need to submit a good application if you want to be considered by the admissions department.

Approximately 39% of accepted students are men and 61% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 74%, and the acceptance rate for women is 82%.

Average Test Scores

About 2% of students accepted to NSU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 480 and 580. Math scores were between 510 and 560.

NSU received ACT scores from 89% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 17 and 24. Math scores were between 18 and 25. Composite scores were between 19 and 25.

Can I Afford Northern State University?

The overall average net price of NSU is $23,294. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At NSU, approximately 62% of students took out student loans averaging $7,286 a year. That adds up to $29,144 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at NSU is 4.7%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Northern State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,968 undergraduate students at NSU, with 1,149 being full-time and 1,819 being part-time.

There are also 463 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 1,149 full-time undergraduates at NSU, 43% are male and 57% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Northern State University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	20
Black or African American	30
Hispanic or Latino	42
White	944
International Students	32
Other Races/Ethnicities	81

Geographic Diversity

South Dakota students aren't the only ones who study at Northern State University. At this time, 19 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 50 countries are represented at NSU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are South Korea, China, and Mexico.

Online Learning at Northern State University

In 2019-2020, 2,349 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at NSU has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 2nd most popular in South Dakota for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of NSU

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Northern State University was $8,750 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $11,821. The following table shows how NSU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Banking and Financial Support Services	#1	#1
Finance & Financial Management	#13	#10
International Business	#22	#7
International Business/Trade/Commerce	#22	#7
Accounting	#25	#18
Accounting	#28	#21
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	#49	#27
Marketing	#52	#27

Online Affordability Rankings of NSU Rankings

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Northern State University was $8,750 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $11,821. The following table shows how NSU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Banking and Financial Support Services	#1	#4
International Business	#4	#4
International Business/Trade/Commerce	#4	#4
Finance & Financial Management	#7	#13
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	#25	#31
Accounting	#25	#43
Marketing	#28	#34
Accounting	#28	#37
Business Administration & Management	#43	#73
General Business Administration and Management	#61	#90

Online Growth Rankings of NSU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Northern State University was -6.0%. This is the #1,684 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at NSU regardless of major.

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at NSU ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at NSU.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Banking and Financial Support Services	#21
International Business	#95
International Business/Trade/Commerce	#95
Finance & Financial Management	#178
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	#253
Marketing	#293
Accounting	#484

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Northern State University Business Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Associate’s	Bachelor’s	Master’s	TOTAL
General Business Administration and Management	2	26	0	28
Accounting	0	18	0	18
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	0	13	0	13
Banking and Financial Support Services	1	4	4	9
Finance	0	3	0	3
General Management Information Systems	0	3	0	3
International Business/Trade/Commerce	0	2	0	2
General Economics	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	3	69	4	76

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics

More about our data sources and methodologies.