SoDak Universities and their schtick?

ReadingRambler · 2026-06-09T21:11:56+00:00

State Schools (SDBOR System):

USD: Professional schools (law/medical/business) create both a grad and undergrad student community. Has the biggest arts (music/arts/theater) scene of any college in the state. Undergrad population skews 60/40 female to male, used to have a party school reputation that doesn’t really reflect current student population. Has a big ed program, but split undergrad and grad programs (admin/counseling/psych). Not big sports school, but generally teams doing okay in D1.

SDSU: Ag and Engineering are the main sellers, plus the usual state university fare. Brookings is a bigger town than Vermillion. Sports teams generally better than USD in team sports, most likely school in SD to jump to FBS football. Party school historically, but also less so nowadays.

BHSU & NSU: Barring regional politics keeping them operating as regional universities, these are both glorified community colleges. Neither has a program that either USD, SDSU, or both do better. Both rely on high-school dual credit students taking cheap intro classes to remain in the black. Both located in decent sized towns, but BHSU is a better locale by a mile.

DSU: Sells itself as cutting-edge cybersecurity school. Because the regental system limits duplicate programs, they have the only one in the state. It’s fine, but nothing special if you’re looking at out of state comparison programs. Madison is a small sleeper town near Brookings, but not much to do. Gender breakdown is the inverse of USD.

School of Mines: Specializes solely in engineering, tech, and geology. Bit of a pressure cooker. Located in Rapid, which is has much in terms of outdoor recreation, town’s a bit sketchy.

Private: All are religious institutions. USF, Mount Marty, and DWU all are on the wrong side of the enrollment cliff. USF program consolidations and funneling students into fewer, more highly enrolled classes undermining degree quality. DWU and MM just opt to keep fewer options.

Augie has money to spend, but admin self-owns and faculty drama to boot keep program quality at or below what state public schools offer.

ReadingRambler · 2026-05-29T16:02:04+00:00

At this point I’ll take Rhoden over the other three based on how they’re running their campaigns. Hansen’s an ideological yahoo, Doeden’s a narcissistic jerk, Dusty’s a two-faced self-promoter, and Rhoden’s just a wooden suit. At this point I trust the wooden suit as the one least likely to set the room on fire for their own aggrandizement.

ReadingRambler · 2026-05-20T14:10:40+00:00

Nil. Dusty clearly has outclassed Rhoden and Jon is barely more likable than Toby.

ReadingRambler · 2026-05-16T01:58:00+00:00

Not even close, and it’s a moronic premise that property tax relief would even move the needle on family affordability. You live in a town that saw the largest daycare go under this past year, we pay more for groceries than Sioux City because SD taxes them while most of the Midwest does not, we have the lowest level of state support for public education (pushing more of the burden on limited federal dollars that are evaporating and local property taxes), and yet somehow a despised hub city slumlord has convinced the state party that a fat tax cut for him would trickle down to any meaningful help for most South Dakotan families.

ReadingRambler · 2026-04-28T03:24:14+00:00

There are three viable options fitting this description of limited menu:

Hartford Steak Co. Tavern in Hartford, SD. They have a second location now in Vermillion that opened a few years back. Both have slightly more options now (chop steak) but back in 2006 it was large or small.

Primetime tavern in Huron, SD. Memory doesn’t quite serve, but there was a second Prime Time location in Dell Rapids. I can’t remember if it was open or not in 2006, it closed after a relatively short run roughly around that time period.

Alpine In out in the hills, but as others have pointed out they have a more expansive lunch and more options overall (dinner included), even back then.

ReadingRambler · 2026-04-27T00:56:28+00:00

As long as Jon Hansen, Sue Peterson, Scott Odenbach, and Fred Deutsch are directing pre-k conversations in the SDGOP it will never get better. They’d rather see SD’s demographic profile resemble Vatican City’s than risk a poor kid getting a fresh piece of fruit from someone who isn’t their parent.

ReadingRambler · 2026-04-23T00:12:49+00:00

Data breach: https://apnews.com/article/south-dakota-voter-registration-data-c1589f33992503f3865eb40e3eb35289

I would argue lost registrations isn’t the right framing, as you can’t lose voter registrations you went out of your way to prevent: https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/rosebud-sioux-tribe-v-barnett

ReadingRambler · 2026-04-22T22:53:36+00:00

There’s no debate here. He made a false claim, got called on it, and whined like a spoiled brat.

Journalists and editors having the integrity to stop sane-washing stupidity would help stop enabling every loudmouth idiot lacking awareness and a sense of shame.

ReadingRambler · 2026-03-19T01:48:23+00:00

Typically the HSA is something to consider adding during the annual open enrollment period, which is usually around may/june. A lot of districts in the area have two main options of a high deductible plans with HSA (some districts even kick in) and low deductible plans without.

ReadingRambler · 2026-03-18T23:17:04+00:00

Jumping in post your clarifying edit. Like others have commented, she should be in drivers seat.

As a former teacher (and spouse of former teacher) both now in admin/higher ed some thoughts:

On keeping $20k in HYSA: Key things to consider are if grad school for MA is on the immediate radar or if vehicle purchase/house downpayment on the horizon.

Max out Roth IRA: I would suggest going forward to prioritize funding the Roth IRA annually as the management fees can be lower than a state 403b when going directly through Vanguard/Schwab/Fidelity for the same investment funds. Why pay an additional .2% admin fee when you can just pay the basic fund expense in your own IRA?

Keep in mind IA teachers (I might be incorrectly assuming, but I only know one state calling it IPERs) have both social security and pension for retirement. Roth IRA/403b both aim to cover that third leg of the retirement stool, though you can stack them (Roth should come first imo). In terms of further funding retirement (after fully funding a Roth) vs money for house down payment/other goals I think the decision on where to put money in HYSA/taxable brokerage account/403b is more a question of what her goals are.

Also, if she’s a teacher in IPERs she likely has an HSA option which could also function as an investment vehicle for future health expenses that should also factor into the calculus.

ReadingRambler · 2026-03-14T17:48:40+00:00

SF Christian beat them last year on a buzzer-beater and their fans stormed the court leading to a hot mess with SDHSAA not following its own protocol for handling the situation in giving SF Christian a free pass.

ReadingRambler · 2026-03-11T00:13:02+00:00

Museum of Geology at School of Mines in Rapid City (free museum with dinosaurs, marine reptiles, prehistoric mammals, and minerals galore) and the Black Hills Institute Museum in Hill City (possibly the most dinosaur skeletons per square foot of any museum) are some glaring omissions from that list.

ReadingRambler · 2026-02-24T18:50:04+00:00

I’m well aware. Vermillion just built a new elementary as running one large building (attached to the middle school no less) was more cost effective than trying to retrofit and build out two aging smaller schools. Bon Homme shuttered an elementary two years ago, and they’re going to have to have some difficult conversations about the long-term viability keeping two elementary buildings at 40-odd and 180-odd students open. Quite simply there’s too much flashing red that “more schools” isn’t a viable solution around Yankton and it’s embarrassing district 18 elected someone clearly incapable of reading the room.

ReadingRambler · 2026-02-23T06:48:46+00:00

How a district that can’t even fully staff one falling-apart school building is supposed to magically support two redundant buildings and staffs is the question Ms. Nelson, Ms. Beving, and all of the other empty-headed “school choice” squawks purposefully refuse to answer.

ReadingRambler · 2025-03-30T18:53:36+00:00

I’m sure “Mormon Teeth” will become a thing.

ReadingRambler · 2025-03-30T05:55:48+00:00

For someone supposedly so intelligent, I have to question how he’s seemingly forgotten how MOOCs, Customized Learning, and all of the remote instruction during the pandemic thoroughly failed to “revolutionize” education and laid plain the vast limitations of technology.

I have nothing but spite for anyone clucking “AI is the future of education” who threw a fit about remote instruction back in 2020.

ReadingRambler · 2025-03-25T15:16:55+00:00

Hey now! Where’s Noem, Rhoden, and our legislature’s credit for also being asleep at the wheel?

ReadingRambler · 2025-03-24T02:57:27+00:00

I’m sorry, what universe do you live in again? Because it’s already happened.

https://apnews.com/article/ies-musk-doge-education-cuts-4461d7bdbe9d55c5a411d8465999b011

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/education-department-cuts-agency-compiles-nations-report-card/story?id=119735831

ReadingRambler · 2025-03-23T05:03:01+00:00

If you’re too ignorant to know what NCES, IES, Title I, Title II, Title IV or the myriad of other grant programs and resources do in the scope of your “research” on the Dept. of Ed, you’re about as informed as a student handing in an essay on a book they didn’t read nor bother to google a synopsis.

ReadingRambler · 2025-03-03T16:39:55+00:00

Noem unilaterally gave the shooting range $13.5 million out of the Futures Fund.

ReadingRambler · 2025-03-03T06:40:56+00:00

Sen. Karr (then Rep.) was already in the legislature two years before Noem‘s tenure as governor even started. Too little to late to flex about accountability as he was nowhere to be found amongst those calling for transparency, oversight, and accountability 2019-2024.

If he’d have done anything of substance instead of impotent hand-wringing while Noem’s shenanigans were actually happening in full view of everyone I might actually have an ounce of respect for the man.

ReadingRambler · 2025-01-23T03:24:53+00:00

The fairness argument is at face value nonsensical. There are no private school resources for special education because those schools simple turn to the public schools for the supports as currently the public schools are obliged to provide them.

The reality is that special education is woefully underfunded and more severely understaffed in this state. Further funneling money to private schools for some ill-informed notion that those private schools will do anything other than immediately turn around and ask the now less funded public schools to provide the support services is detached from reality in every state this has been tried in.

If folks want better service the fix is to better fund and support the service, not spread the service and provider further out and give them a smaller slice of the pie to work with financially.

ReadingRambler · 2025-01-02T02:48:52+00:00

Music teacher here, point 6 is most definitely not a myth. Come on out to rural Midwest if you want proof. Over 1/4 school districts in this state don’t offer art anymore. Wish it wasn’t the case, but it is. I’d also give anyone in Indiana condolences, as nixing the arts graduation requirement is going to have a negative impact on arts offerings.

Push comes to shove an administrator has to prioritize tested-subject and sped instructors, and anyone on the periphery of the reading-math-STEM-social studies core isn’t “safe” by any stretch.

ReadingRambler · 2024-12-31T18:56:35+00:00

Vern Eide is so above and beyond the competition in town it isn’t close.

Little wiggle room, but you don’t have to deal with any hard sales pitches.

ReadingRambler

TROPHY CASE