Best PhD in Nursing Programs in South Dakota, Ranked (2026)
South Dakota's only nursing doctorate does not ask you to live in South Dakota. South Dakota State University runs its PhD in nursing online out of Brookings, part time, with no GRE and direct entry from a BSN. That combination is unusual, and it means the PhD in nursing programs in South Dakota question has one answer that works just as well from Sioux Falls, Rapid City or another state entirely.
Last updated
Programs ranked
1
Universities
1
Nursing faculty median
$66,630
Faculty jobs in SD
250
How We Ranked the Best PhD in Nursing Programs in South Dakota
Campus and online programs are scored on separate models, because they compete on different
things, and this page lists both together with each one's score from its own model. Research
funding comes from NIH RePORTER, doctoral scale from federal IPEDS completions, and the
curriculum, funding and deadline figures from each school's own pages.
The full scoring model is here.
The interesting part isn't the program, it's the loan. SDSU runs the Nurse Faculty Loan Program for its PhD students every semester, forgiving up to 85% if you teach for four years after. That reframes the whole cost question.
Where it wins. Sixty post-master's credits at $495.70 is about $29,742, and 85% forgiveness would leave roughly $4,461 of it. Nothing pulls you to Brookings either, because there's no residency requirement at all, and the program admits non-nurses, with no license required to enroll.
What you give up. Forgiveness costs you four years of teaching, at a South Dakota faculty median of $66,630 against $78,060 for the state's RNs, about $11,430 a year less. And no GRE just moves the test to a recorded Kira Talent assessment.
Funding. There is no blanket funding guarantee; the program is built as a part-time online path for employed nurses. The College of Nursing administers a Nurse Faculty Loan Program under which "tuition and fees are funded for graduate nursing students who intend to teach in an accredited school of nursing," with up to 85% of the loan forgiven after a four-year post-graduation teaching commitment, and it is offered to Ph.D. students each semester. Separately, Graduate School assistantships waive all tuition and fees except the per-credit General Activity Fee, and the college awarded over $468,500 in scholarships in 2025.
Research. Health promotion and disease prevention in underserved and rural populations, Health outcomes, Nursing education.
Every published detail for South Dakota State University
Degree awarded
PhD
Delivery
Online
School
College of Nursing
Entry points
BSN-to-PhD, post-master's
GRE
Not required
Minimum GPA
3
Applications close
Priority Dec. 1; second deadline March 1; final deadline April 15, for an August start
Part-time study
Available
Dissertation
Required
On the timeline
Varies; all three emphases are pursued part-time, with "the length of which is determined on an individual basis"
What Nursing Faculty and Nurse Researchers Earn in South Dakota
Nursing faculty in South Dakota earn a median of $66,630, which is $13,620 below the national median of $80,250, on a base of 250 jobs. That is a thin market, so the median moves noticeably from one survey to the next. Registered nurses in the state earn $78,060, so a South Dakota nurse who finishes this doctorate and moves into teaching is looking at roughly $11,000 a year less than staying at the bedside. The top 10% of faculty here clear $97,260, which is where the arithmetic turns, and it takes rank and grant money to get there.
South Dakota has one nursing doctorate and about 14,710 registered nurses spread across a state you can drive for six hours without leaving. A residential PhD in Brookings would draw from the few hundred nurses who could reach it. An online one draws from all of them, and from everywhere else.
That shapes what the program is. It admits part time, because its students are working nurses who are not moving. It takes BSN-prepared applicants directly, because waiting for people to collect a master's first would empty the pipeline. It dropped the GRE. Sixty credits, and you fit them around shifts.
What you give up is the thing a funded campus PhD gives you: five years inside a research group, paid to be there. South Dakota State's is a doctorate you buy while you keep earning. Whether that is the right trade depends on whether you want to run your own studies or teach, and for the nurse who wants to teach in the state she already lives in, it is a good one.
Questions About Nursing PhD Programs in South Dakota
How many PhD in nursing programs are there in South Dakota?
1, at 1 university. 0 are campus-based and 1 runs online.
Is there a PhD in nursing program in South Dakota?
One. South Dakota State University in Brookings runs a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing, and it is delivered online, so you can do it from anywhere in the state or outside it.
Do you have to live in South Dakota to do it?
No. The program is online. That also means South Dakota nurses can apply to any of the other online nursing PhD programs based elsewhere, and those are ranked together on the online list.
What do nursing professors earn in South Dakota?
Postsecondary nursing instructors in South Dakota earn a $66,630 median. The bottom 10% earn $59,160 and the top 10% clear $97,260, across 250 jobs in the state. The national median is $80,250.
Can you do a nursing PhD in South Dakota without moving?
1 of the 1 program in South Dakota runs online. You can also apply to any of the online programs based in other states, since an online nursing PhD does not care where you live. They are all ranked here.