Ranked, compared, and filtered by real data: costs, outcomes, and admissions
North Dakota State University has built a research profile that significantly outpaces what its enrollment numbers would predict, with particular strength in engineering, agriculture, pharmaceutical sciences, and polymer chemistry that brings real federal research funding to a small state.
The University of North Dakota's aviation program is one of the largest and most respected in the country. It trains a meaningful share of the commercial pilots who staff major airlines, which is a fact most people outside the industry don't know.
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See how North Dakota's colleges compare to the national average on the four measures most students and families weigh when deciding where to go: cost, acceptance rates, graduate earnings, and graduation rates.
The colleges in North Dakota that rank highest by UCD Score, and those that deliver above-national graduate earnings at a below-average net price, two of the strongest signals when choosing a school.
Not every student is looking for the same thing. These six panels rank North Dakota's colleges by the data that matters most for each path.
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by net price
Ranked by enrollment
Ranked by grad earnings
Which colleges give you the most for what you spend? These eight schools rank highest in North Dakota by the ratio of 10-year graduate earnings to annual net price.
| # | College | Net Price / yr | Earnings (10yr) | Ratio | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Turtle Mountain College Belcourt | $3,428 | $32,079 | 9.4× | Excellent |
| 2 | Williston State College Williston | $5,932 | $44,017 | 7.4× | Excellent |
| 3 | United Tribes Technical College Bismarck | $3,569 | $25,292 | 7.1× | Excellent |
| 4 | Sitting Bull College Fort Yates | $4,605 | $28,488 | 6.2× | Excellent |
| 5 | Bismarck State College Bismarck | $10,270 | $54,277 | 5.3× | Excellent |
| 6 | North Dakota State College of Science Wahpeton | $11,261 | $50,513 | 4.5× | Excellent |
| 7 | Valley City State University Valley City | $11,890 | $52,725 | 4.4× | Excellent |
| 8 | Mayville State University Mayville | $11,456 | $47,828 | 4.2× | Excellent |
ROI Ratio = median earnings 10 years after enrollment ÷ annual net price. Higher is better.
The six fields of study with the most annual graduates across all colleges in North Dakota, based on IPEDS completion data.
The specific degree programs producing the most graduates across North Dakota's colleges. A more granular view than the Popular Majors above, useful when you already know roughly what you want to study and want to see where the volume is.
The cities in North Dakota with the most colleges, ranked by number of institutions.
Utah crowds 14,137 students into each of its colleges, four times the national norm. These are the states where college options are scarcest per student.
There are 170 colleges that operate a medical school, and they cluster hard. Texas leads with 14, three states hold a fifth of them, and four states have none.
Northeast college graduates earn about $12,700 more a decade out than Southern ones, but they also pay thousands more to get there. The regional split, by the numbers.
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
Scout uses AI and can make mistakes. Verify important numbers on the page.
