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Community colleges in North Dakota

There are 10 two-year, predominantly associate-degree-granting community colleges in North Dakota reporting to the U.S. Department of Education. Median published in-state tuition across the state is $5,388 per academic year — among the most affordable postsecondary options anywhere in the country.

This page is a working directory: every institution links to a full profile with cost, enrollment, completion, and transfer numbers. The lists below highlight the most affordable, the largest, and the most transfer-active campuses in North Dakota, drawn from the same Department of Education data four-year admissions offices use to evaluate incoming transfer applicants. If you are weighing a community-college start before continuing to a four-year program, the transfer rate column is the single most useful comparison.

Most affordable in-state tuition in North Dakota

  1. Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish CollegeNew Town$3,870
  2. Cankdeska Cikana Community CollegeFort Totten$3,950
  3. Sitting Bull CollegeFort Yates$4,010
  4. United Tribes Technical CollegeBismarck$4,632
  5. Bismarck State CollegeBismarck$5,247

Full North Dakota cost ranking → Tuition reference →

Largest community colleges in North Dakota

  1. Bismarck State CollegeBismarck2,839
  2. North Dakota State College of ScienceWahpeton1,909
  3. Williston State CollegeWilliston651
  4. Lake Region State CollegeDevils Lake611
  5. United Tribes Technical CollegeBismarck569

Full enrollment ranking →

Strongest transfer outcomes

Share of full-time entrants who transferred to another institution within 150% of program length.

  1. Lake Region State CollegeDevils Lake16%
  2. Cankdeska Cikana Community CollegeFort Totten4%
  3. Williston State CollegeWilliston0%

North Dakota transfer guide →

All 10 community colleges in North Dakota

InstitutionCityEnrollmentIn-state tuition
Bismarck State CollegeBismarck2,839$5,247
Cankdeska Cikana Community CollegeFort Totten222$3,950
Dakota College at BottineauBottineau399$5,388
Lake Region State CollegeDevils Lake611$5,520
North Dakota State College of ScienceWahpeton1,909$5,974
Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish CollegeNew Town161$3,870
Rasmussen University-North DakotaFargo52$13,957
Sitting Bull CollegeFort Yates257$4,010
United Tribes Technical CollegeBismarck569$4,632
Williston State CollegeWilliston651$6,128

About community college in North Dakota

North Dakota's 10 community colleges serve as the primary on-ramp into postsecondary education for hundreds of thousands of residents each year. They award associate degrees, occupational certificates, and — through articulation agreements with public and private four-year institutions — transferable general-education credit. For most students, the financial argument is decisive: published in-state tuition averages a small fraction of state-flagship sticker price, and many community-college students qualify for the full federal Pell Grant, eliminating tuition entirely.

If you intend to transfer, the most important question to ask any North Dakota community college is which four-year institutions accept its credit on a course-for-course basis. The state's strongest transfer pipelines tend to feed regional public universities, but well-prepared students from accredited community colleges in North Dakota routinely transfer into selective private institutions as well. Use the transfer-rate column above as a starting filter, then consult the receiving university's transfer admissions office to confirm specific course equivalencies.

Career-focused students should pay attention to the local labor market as much as to the institution. North Dakota's community colleges concentrate heavily in health-care occupations, mechanical and engineering technology, business administration, and skilled-trades programs aligned to regional employers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' state-level wage data is the right reference for setting expectations on starting salary by field. Where this site reports earnings, the figure is median earnings ten years after first enrollment, drawn from the College Scorecard's match against federal tax records.