How Far Kristi Noem Really Got In School

Donald Trump's controversial Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, endured a great tragedy while she was trying to earn a college degree. During a May 2012 interview with Bloomberg, the Republican politician revealed that she initially enrolled in university in 1990 to obtain a degree in education. Sadly, as Noem neared the completion of her higher education in 1994, her beloved father, Ronald Arnold, passed away in a farming incident. In another interview with CBS News, that very same month, she opened up about how the tremendous loss impacted her family. "It turned our whole lives upside down. He was the guy who could do anything," Noem shared. "I remember going to bed that night thinking, 'I have no idea what tomorrow looks like because he's not here.'" 

As the Trump staffer explained to Bloomberg, while she struggled to make sense of Arnold's passing, Noem gradually realized that she needed to fill his shoes and take over their family farm. And so, the then-22-year-old made the tough choice to halt her college education to help out. The former South Dakota governor was incredibly passionate about her work on the farm because it helped her feel close to her father. Although Noem was content with her lot in life, she still couldn't resist the pull of the political world. 

However, she didn't immediately turn to education to make her dreams a reality, first becoming a state lawmaker instead. During her chat with CBS News, the DHS secretary acknowledged that she never felt less qualified for her job than her more well-educated peers because Noem's many hardships had provided her with real-life lessons. The Trump staffer finally re-enrolled in college in 2008 for a very sweet reason. 

While speaking to Bloomberg in 2012, Kristi Noem confirmed that she signed up to study for a political science degree at South Dakota State University in order to be a good role model to her children. After four years of balancing a full-time political career with school, Noem secured her college degree in 2012. Then, in May 2025, the MAGA politician received an honorary doctorate in public service from her alma mater too. By then, Noem had already made some of her most controversial moves of all time, so naturally the honor was met with some serious pushback. Several critics told Dakota News Now that they were appalled by SDSU's decision to bestow the honor on someone who had deported people from their home country so callously and unconstitutionally. 

Although many students considered skipping the ceremony, staging a walkout, or even concealing their signs of protest in their graduation wear, they ultimately decided to let the ceremony go by smoothly for the sake of the rest of the graduates. Instead, many gathered to protest in an area that was far away from the event itself. According to the South Dakota Searchlight, while one protestor's sign read, "A doctorate in graft I could understand" another one cheekily asked, "When do I get my free degree?" Of course, numerous signs also called the DHS secretary out for her deportations. 

In fact, all that was really missing from the signs were some of the most brutal nicknames Noem has been called (that low key check out, of course). To make matters even more embarrassing, an Indian student whom her department was attempting to deport also secured her degree from SDSU in front of her very eyes.