South Dakota’s efforts to retain graduates and fill state jobs

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) -An average of approximately 700 out-of-state students who graduate from a public South Dakota university choose to live and work in the state after graduation.

According to a report by South Dakota News Watch, state lawmakers are working to increase this number in order to help fill around 29,000 available jobs.

In 2016, South Dakota public universities had a graduation rate of around 40 percent. The students who did not graduate, however, were not all dropouts.

“The students who would have started enrolling in 2016 were getting right to the end of their college years as COVID broke. So, that really did disrupt. Not everybody was able to graduate, and even some of those who did, the employment picture at that time placed us in a situation where we were still trying to figure out how to bring people on board when we couldn’t be together,” said Black Hills State University’s provost, Dr. Jon Kilpinen.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Hills State University’s retention rate experienced an increase. In addition, South Dakota Mines continued to maintain the highest retention rates among all South Dakota public colleges.

“We’ve had a good uptick in retention. Last year, we hit a school record 71 percent retention for our freshmen and sophomores. And then this year, we bumped that up to 72 percent,” said Kilpinen.

“Really trying to increase the graduation and retention rates and overall success for students for several years,” said South Dakota Mines Vice President for student success, Lisa Carlson.

According to South Dakota News Watch, Governor Kristi Noem sent a letter to the Board of Regents earlier this year, urging an increase in the graduation rates at the six public universities to 65 percent by 2028. According to the vice president for student success, South Dakota Mines took the lead in this initiative. They’re collaborating with the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities in an effort focused on graduating more underrepresented minorities, first-generation students, and historically underserved groups.

“So we have been paying really close attention to our graduation rates and doing things like this, the renovation and changing that advising structure and making sure that we have, you know, all of the resources for any student no matter what their needs are, and I really believe that that has increased our retention rate and our six-year graduation rate,” said Carlson.

As South Dakota sees a rise in job openings, officials say it’s vital for the state that students stick around after graduation.

“About half of our students are from South Dakota. Another really large percentage of students are from surrounding areas that might be a little bit rural. And so those job opportunities are attractive to them to stay in the hills, and a lot of our graduates do end up staying here,” said Carlson.

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