There are eighteen colleges and universities in the U.S. state of South Dakota that are listed under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Brookings-based South Dakota State University (SDSU) is the state's largest public university, with a fall 2024 enrollment of 12,056 students. SDSU is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents, a governing board that also controls the University of South Dakota (USD), which has the second largest enrollment. In addition, the Board controls four other public universities in the state. USD is the oldest public university in South Dakota, as it has a founding date of 1862. Augustana University, situated in Sioux Falls, is the largest not-for-profit private university with a fall 2024 enrollment of 2,390 students in attendance.
The state's only law school, the University of South Dakota School of Law, is accredited by the American Bar Association. USD also contains the state's only medical school, the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. The majority of South Dakota's post-secondary institutions are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). Most are accredited by multiple agencies, such as the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), and the National League for Nursing (NLNAC).