Notes

These are items that bear looking into more closely.

• This institution’s full-time undergraduate enrollment has tended to decrease over time.

Overview of institution

This, and the rest of the page, use info from the most recent year available, generally 2023.

• Institution kind: Baccalaureate/Associate’s Colleges: Associate’s Dominant

• Undergrad program: Baccalaureate/Associates Colleges

• Graduate program: Not classified (Exclusively Undergraduate)

• Enrollment profile: Exclusively undergraduate four-year (see more details below)

• Average net price for undergrads on financial aid: $11,309 . This is 60% the average cost of Harvard.

• Actual price for your family: Go here to see what your family may be asked to pay. It can be MUCH lower than the average price but also higher for some.

• Size and setting: Four-year, small, primarily nonresidential

• In state percentage: 89% of first year students come from North Dakota

• In US percentage: 99% of first year students come from the US

• Student to tenure-stream faculty ratio: 20.0 (undergrads to tenure-stream faculty) [Tenure explained]

• Student to faculty ratio: 18.0 (undergrads to all faculty)

• Degrees offered: Certificate of less than 1 year, Certificate of less than 12 weeks, Certificate of at least 12 weeks but less than 1 year, Certificate of at least 1 year but less than 2 years, Associate’s degree, Certificate of at least 2 years but less than 4 years, Bachelor’s degree

• Schedule: Semester

• Institution provides on campus housing: Yes

• Dorm capacity: There are enough dorm beds for 438 students

• Freshmen required to live on campus: No

• Advanced placement (AP) credits used: Yes

• Disabilities: 3 percent or less of undergrads are registered as having disabilities.

Map

Comparisons

The sections below show this institution compared with others. The ones listed are ones it has identified as peers, who consider themselves peers, and/or who the federal government considers peers. If a comparison school has the same value as the focal school, its cell is grayed out. Arrows show where there is a signficant trend over time for a school. You can swipe across the table to see more of it; the focal school column is always visible.

• Bismarck State College lists these schools as ones to compare itself within federal IPEDS data, and they do the same back: Vincennes University, East Georgia State College, Lake Region State College
• Bismarck State College compares itself to these institutions, but not vice versa: Snow College, Alpena Community College, Miami University-Hamilton, Green River College, Columbia Basin College, University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash College, Olympic College, Seattle Central College, Miami University-Middletown, Skagit Valley College, North Dakota State College of Science, Yakima Valley College, Ridgewater College, Clover Park Technical College, Lake Superior College, Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Centralia College, Alexandria Technical & Community College, South Georgia State College, Minnesota North College, Potomac State College of West Virginia University, Flathead Valley Community College, Bay de Noc Community College, Peninsula College, SUNY College of Technology at Canton, Great Falls College Montana State University, Williston State College, Georgia Piedmont Technical College, Dakota College at Bottineau, San Juan College, Western Technical College, Lake Area Technical College, Southeast Technical College, Reading Area Community College, New Mexico Junior College, Lake Michigan College, Athens Technical College, Marshalltown Community College, Blackhawk Technical College, Western Dakota Technical College, Gogebic Community College
• These institutions compare themselves to Bismarck State College, but not vice versa: United Tribes Technical College, Rasmussen University-North Dakota, Guam Community College, Chipola College, University of Mary, Helena College University of Montana, Northwest Technical College, New Mexico State University-Alamogordo

Diversity

The US Census Bureau has a diversity index that goes from 0 to 1. In their words, “A 0-value indicates that everyone in the population has the same racial and ethnic characteristics. A value close to 1 indicates that everyone in the population has different racial and ethnic characteristics.” This uses their formula, but with the resolution available for the federal IPEDS data (which does not separate for a given demographic group whether members identify as Hispanic or not). This metric is about heterogeneity within the population, not the proportion of the population that comes from historically excluded groups.

Following the practice of the census, the index is multiplied by 100 to give the percentage probability a random pair of individuals will have a different background. Most institutions argue that diversity is a benefit, so by default a higher number is listed as better, but there may be cases where this measure does not reflect the mission of a college (for example, 70% of the students at a tribal college or university may be American Indian: that could be low-scoring by this metric but should not be read as “bad” given the institution’s mission).

These numbers are based on the most recent year available, generally 2023, which predates effects of the US Supreme Court’s striking down of affirmative action. This has often changed, sometimes dramatically, the incoming student demographics at some institutions.

Test scores

Majors

This presents information on the number of majors and the median earnings one and five years after graduation for people who got a degree from this institution in that field. The earnings are for those who are working and not enrolled in further education. The earnings data (from the federal college scorecard) also has information on earnings for those categorized as ‘MALE’ and ‘NOMALE’ – for readability, these are recategorized here as “Men” and “Women”, respectively, which adopts the gender binary used in other federal data. “W/M earnings ratio” is the median earnings of women divided by men, as a percentage.