Post Secondary Planning

The Dakota Dreams website was launched by the SDBOR and SDDOE to support students, families, and educators as they navigate the college preparation process.

Included on the website is the Statewide Scholarship Bulletin Board - a central place for students to search scholarship opportunities. 

Please click here to access the resources listed above. 

The Helpline Center is pleased to be accepting applications for the Citi Youth Leadership Awards, a scholarship program for high school seniors in the Sioux Empire area involved in community service. Citi, the sponsor of the scholarships, will award three $1,000 scholarships in 2025.

The requirements for applicants are:
• applicants need to be a high school during the 2024-2025 academic year
• applicants need to have contributed at least 100 hours of service within the past 12 months

Eligible service may include: service with community/religious organizations; service through school/community based service-learning projects or individual efforts to help others and/or improve the community.

Students seeking an award are asked to fill out an application form and write an essay on their volunteer service. A panel of judges evaluates the nominee essays. Applications are available at http://www.helplinecenter.org/scholarship

For more information contact Katy Johnson at (605) 274-1409 or katy.johnson@helplinecenter.org

Applications must be submitted by 5 PM on March 10, 2025.

The Diocese awards a $1,000 scholarship in each of the seven deaneries, to enable a student to attend Mount Marty University.

The scholarships are available to new students, students already in college and non-traditional students interested in attending or already attending Mount Marty University, Yankton.

To obtain an application, contact your pastor or the Financial Aid Office at Mount Marty University. Applications must be returned to the Office of Catholic Schools, 523 North Duluth Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD 57104-2714.  Applications are due March 15^th.

• More than $500,000 is awarded to students across the state.
• Each scholarship will have unique qualification criteria. 
• Scholarship application period is December 15, 2024 through March 15, 2025 and can be accessed online.

• The Bellator Titans MC is dedicated to supporting their local community and students.
• Essay required.
• Application and additional information can be found here. 
• Deadline: March 26, 2025.

• If you receive a Build Dakota Scholarship, you’re one step closer to a successful future. And you’ll be able to get there faster and debt-free, as the scholarships will support tuition, fees, books and other required program expenses in the eligible technical college programs. Accepting the scholarship means you agree to:

  • Enroll full-time in a high-need industry program at a South Dakota technical college.
  • Following graduation, work full-time in your field of study for a minimum of three years in South Dakota.
  • Students who graduate from South Dakota technical colleges have a 98-100% placement rate.
• Your next opportunity to apply for a Build Dakota Scholarship starts January 1, 2025 through March 31, 2025. Check out their website for more information

Ally Dakota Development, your trusted ally for small business finance, is pleased to offer five -
$1,000 scholarships to students pursuing a post-secondary degree in a business/finance related
field.

To be eligible for an Ally Dakota Development scholarship, you must meet all of the
following criteria:
• Be a U.S. citizen
• Be a high school senior attending a South Dakota High School
• Be accepted into a business/finance program at an accredited, post-secondary
institution in South Dakota
• Have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or greater, calculated on a 4.0 grading
scale

• Application and additional information can be found here. 
• Deadline: March 31, 2025

AutomotiveScholarships.com provides hundreds of available scholarships to students studying engineering, accounting, business, IT/cybersecurity or other courses of study for a career in the automotive field, as well as those training to become automotive, heavy duty or collision repair technicians.

Additional information can be found on their website. 

Application deadline: March 31, 2025.

Applicants for this scholarship award must meet the following minimum criteria:

•  Graduate from a South Dakota high school;
•  Submit a 300 to 500-word essay detailing your personal story, interests and educational goals
•  Please attach your essay and a copy of your high school transcript to this application before submitting it;
•  Provide a copy of the acceptance letter to the post-secondary institution.

Applications can be found here.

Deadline: April 1, 2025.

• The Day County Coyote Hunt Scholarship Program has been established to award scholarships to immediate family (parent, step-parent, grand parent, sibling) of a current soldier or Veteran of the Armed Forces including SD National Guard & desire to further their education.
• $2,000 scholarship awarded
• For application and additional information, click here. 
  Deadline: April 01, 2025

 The National CCAA First-Year Scholarship is awarded to 16 randomly selected students from various geographic regions who attend one of our 117 member institutions in fall 2025. The scholarship was established to celebrate and promote Catholic higher education, and the National CCAA Board of Directors is pleased to help support students' transition to college.  

The scholarship is a one-time, $1,000 award. This year's application is available here; it is brief and should only take students a few minutes to complete. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, April 1st. Award recipients will be selected and notified beginning in late April. 

A number of $1,000 scholarships are awarded annually to graduating high school seniors through the support of the Sioux Empire Home Builders Care Foundation. Scholarships are awarded to high school graduates who reside in Lincoln, Minnehaha, McCook or Turner counties and have applied for acceptance into a college or technical institute and major in a home-building industry related field of study.

Visit their website to learn more. 

Application deadline: April 1, 2025.

• The Grand Commandery Knights Templar of South Dakota will award several scholarships in the amount of $1,000 to South Dakota residents who plan to attend a state Technical College in South Dakota. 
• Successful candidates are US citizens who will demonstrate financial need and the capability to complete the vocational training program they selected.
• Scholarships will be granted for one year but may be applied for each year for a maximum of three years. 
• Application and additional information can be found here.
• Application submission deadline: April 05, 2025.

This year, AB&T will be offering up to 25 scholarships worth $1,000 each to qualifying high school seniors.

Applicants must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the scholarship:

• Must be a graduating high school senior in 2025.
• Must be attending a university, vocational school, or community college in South Dakota, North Dakota, or Minnesota on a full-time basis in the fall of 2025.
• Applications must be fully completed online by April 18th, 2025.

Additional information can be found here.

AGC of South Dakota has multiple scholarships available for students pursuing an education in a career field directly related to the construction industry. 

Visit their website to learn more.

Application deadline: April 18, 2025.

Voyage FCU is giving away three $1,000 scholarships to eligible applicants.

All applicants must:

• Be a graduating high school senior

• Be a primary Voyage FCU member in good standing

• Not be a Voyage FCU employee, director, committee member, or an immediate family member of one

• Not be a previous Voyage High School scholarship winner.

Applications and additional information can be found here.

Kibble Equipment has partnered with Lake Area Tech (Watertown, SD), NDSCS (Whapeton, ND) and Northeast Iowa Community College (Calmar, IA) to provide students who wish to become a Diesel tech within the Kibble Equipment family. 

Depending on the program, you can be eligible for (but not limited to):

• 100% tuition paid up front by Kibble Equipment
• Paid internships
• Books and fees paid by Kibble Equipment
• Laptop computer provided

Applicants will be committing to 3-5 years of post-graduation work commitment with Kibble if they are accepted and enroll in the program.

For more information, please visit their website or contact Shane Uttenhove at Careers@KibbleEq.com or 605-2237-3956. 

Deadline: December 1, 2023.

This renewable scholarship is automatically awarded to qualified students who submit their application and materials before the published deadline. 

Requirements (see website for full details):

• Be a resident of South Dakota
• Have and ACT composite or superscore of 24 or higher (SAT score of 1180 or higher is also accepted)
• Complete the high school course requirements (note 4 years of math, 4 years of science, and 2 years of world language and/or CTE is required) with no final grade below a "C" and a cumulative unweighted GPA of at least 3.0.
  • Note that GPA and curriculum requirements may be waived if a student earns and ACT score of 28 or higher (equivalent to SAT score of 1310 or higher).
• Attended a participating South Dakota college or university

The deadline to apply is September 1 of the year you enter college. Applications are submitted and processed online. 

The Freedom Scholarship is a needs-based scholarship for SOuth Dakota students who plan to study and work in state. If you demonstrate financial need and meet the requirements, you can use the scholarship at 10 South Dakota universities for any bachelor's degree. 

Visit their website for the list of participating universities, qualifications, requirements and application details. Completion of the FAFSA and acceptance at a participating South Dakota institution are required steps in the application process. 

Please note, each of the 10 participating universities have their own application process and deadline.