Women’s basketball · NAIA

Dakota Wesleyan University

Mitchell, South Dakota · Private institution · 644 students

Listed squad
16
players in the 2025-26 federal return
Athletic aid to women
Recorded
figure available with a free account
Published cost
Recorded
2023-24, available with a free account
Selectivity
Recorded
available with a free account

Does it field a women’s basketball team?

Yes. Dakota Wesleyan University reported 16 women’s basketball participants in the Equity in Athletics return it filed for 2025-26. That is the institution’s own count of the squad, not a roster page Athlavia has read, and it is the figure the United States Department of Education publishes.

It competes in NAIA, and no conference affiliation is recorded here. It is one of 3 NAIA women's basketball programmes in South Dakota, out of 11 programmes there in total.

Can it award a basketball scholarship?

Athletic scholarships are permitted

NAIA rules permit athletically-related student aid.

Dakota Wesleyan University reported athletically-related student aid awarded to women in its most recent federal return. The amount is the total across every women’s sport at the institution — basketball, and also volleyball, soccer, track, swimming and the rest. It is not a basketball budget, and it is not what one player receives.

Athlavia holds the reported figure

Read alone it is routinely mistaken for a per-player offer. Inside Athlavia it sits next to the squad size, the division's own limits and the published cost, which is the only way it means anything.

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It is one of 11 institutions in South Dakota whose return reports athletic aid awarded to women, out of 11 that field women’s basketball at all.

What it costs and what it is like

A published cost is held for 2023-24: tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, insurance and a travel estimate, with the international tuition rate separately where the institution publishes one.

Athlavia holds the cost breakdown

A single yearly total tells a family almost nothing. What decides whether a place is reachable is which line is the big one, and whether the international rate differs — so Athlavia shows the lines, not a headline.

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Type
Private
Enrolment
644
Selectivity
Held — free account
City
Mitchell
State or region
South Dakota
Country
United States
Campus setting
rural
Climate
Not recorded
International share
3%

Degrees recorded here

Only the courses Athlavia has read and tagged. It is not the institution’s full prospectus.

  • Accounting and Related Services.
  • Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.
  • Behavioral Sciences.
  • Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.
  • Biological and Physical Sciences.
  • Biology, General.
  • Business Administration, Management and Operations.
  • Business Administration, Management and Operations.
  • Chemistry.
  • Communication and Media Studies.
  • Computer Software and Media Applications.
  • Criminal Justice and Corrections.
  • Criminal Justice and Corrections.
  • Design and Applied Arts.
  • Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.
  • Economics.
  • Education, General.
  • English Language and Literature, General.
  • Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations.
  • Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations.
  • Finance and Financial Management Services.
  • History.
  • Human Services, General.
  • Journalism.
  • Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.
  • Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.
  • Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.
  • Literature.
  • Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods.
  • Marketing.
  • Mathematics.
  • Music.
  • Physics.
  • Political Science and Government.
  • Psychology, General.
  • Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.
  • Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.
  • Religion/Religious Studies.
  • Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies.
  • Security Science and Technology.
  • Sociology.
  • Special Education and Teaching.
  • Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.
  • Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.
  • Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.
  • Visual and Performing Arts, General.
  • Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management.

How it compares

Across the 220 NAIA women’s basketball programmes in this database, the average listed squad is 20 players. Dakota Wesleyan University lists 16, 4 players below that average. Among the 3 NAIA programmes in South Dakota, it has the 3rd largest listed squad.

Squad size is a fact about the return, not a judgement about the programme. A large squad can mean depth or it can mean a long bench; a small one can mean minutes are available or that the roster is already settled. It is a question to ask a coach, not an answer.

Where these figures came from

FieldValueSourceRetrievedConfidence
Squad size162025-26ope.ed.govEADA 2025-26 schools.xlsx, PARTIC_WOMEN for Basketball12 Aug 202696%
recruitingBand6-262025-26ope.ed.govInferred from EADA operating expense per women's basketball participant ($1,997/player), ranked on a log scale against all 1857 programmes (percentile 16). Division is not used as an input.12 Aug 202655%
Degrees47 undergraduate degrees listed, including Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management., Communication and Media Studies., Journalism.collegescorecard.ed.govCollege Scorecard field latest.programs.cip_4_digit, undergraduate credentials only12 Aug 202690%
Tuitionheld — free account2023-24collegescorecard.ed.govCollege Scorecard fields latest.cost.tuition.in_state and latest.cost.tuition.out_of_state12 Aug 202692%
costOfAttendanceheld — free account2023-24collegescorecard.ed.govCollege Scorecard field latest.cost.roomboard.oncampus12 Aug 202692%
institutionProfileheld — free accountapi.data.govCollege Scorecard v1 /schools, fields latest.admissions.admission_rate.overall, school.locale, location.lat, location.lon, latest.student.demographics.race_ethnicity.non_resident_alien, school.school_url read verbatim12 Aug 202692%

Every stored fact carries the source it came from, the date it was read and how it was extracted. Figures shown on this page without a row above are recorded with the source on the record itself — the athletic aid figure, for instance, carries the Department of Education’s athletics site as its source. Check it at the source.