Enrollment at South Dakota’s six public universities has dropped for the fourth consecutive year this fall, but by a smaller margin than seen last year. The system saw a decline of 954 students in headcount last year, compared with a decline of 121 this year. In an announcement Friday morning, the South Dakota Board of Regents considers this difference “largely unchanged” from last year, and Brian Maher, executive director and CEO, said the enrollment is “substantially flat.” However, in the last two decades, an Argus Leader review of enrollment data from the Regents shows enrollment grew by nearly 10,000 students from 1999 to 2011. From 2011 to 2017, enrollment hovered above 36,000 and has declined each year since 2017.
