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Northern Arizona University

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Northern Arizona University Overview

Northern Arizona University is a public institution situated in Flagstaff, Arizona. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

What Is Northern Arizona University Known For?

6,882 Undergraduate Awards
$25,716 Avg Cost After Aid
82% Acceptance Rate
  • Students at NAU have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 5%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
  • Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at NAU.
  • For the 2019-2020 academic year, 68% of the faculty were full-time.
  • A student who earns a bachelor's degree from NAU makes roughly $46,950 a year. This is 15% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.

Best Schools

Northern Arizona University Rankings

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at NAU.

Rank Ranking Name Share
#9 Most Popular Liberal Arts & Humanities Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#11 Most Popular Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#13 Most Popular English Language & Literature Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#25 Most Popular Health Professions Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#29 Best Value Film, Video & Photographic Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#50 Best Value Public Health Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#55 Best Value Anthropology Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#64 Best Value Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#66 Best Value Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#119 Best Value Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards NAU has earned from around the web.

Rank Ranking Name Source
#30 Best Hospitality Management Schools College Factual
#56 Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools College Factual
#62 Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Schools College Factual
#74 Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Schools College Factual
#80 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Schools College Factual
#283 Best Health Professions Schools College Factual

Where Is Northern Arizona University?

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Contact details for NAU are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 1900 S Knoles Dr, Babbitt Administrative Center, Room 200, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-4092
Phone: 928-523-9011
Website: https://nau.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Northern-Arizona-University/17091779559
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NAU

How Do I Get Into NAU?

You can apply to NAU online at: https://nau.edu/admissions/how-to-apply/

Admission Requirements for NAU

Submission Required?
High School GPA required
High School Rank neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript required
College Prep Program neither required nor recommended
Recommendations neither required nor recommended
SAT or ACT Scores recommended
TOEFL required

How Hard Is It To Get Into NAU?

82% Acceptance Rate
66% Of Accepted Are Women
The acceptance rate at Northern Arizona University is 82%. This means that is not quite as selective as some schools, but you'll still need to submit a good application if you want to be considered by the admissions department.

Approximately 34% of accepted students are men and 66% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 79%, and the acceptance rate for women is 83%.

Can I Afford Northern Arizona University?

$25,716 Net Price
44% Take Out Loans
4.6% Loan Default Rate
The overall average net price of NAU is $25,716. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At NAU, approximately 44% of students took out student loans averaging $6,388 a year. That adds up to $25,552 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at NAU is 4.6%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Northern Arizona University Undergraduate Student Diversity

20,642 Full-Time Undergraduates
63% Women
40% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 25,228 undergraduate students at NAU, with 20,642 being full-time and 4,586 being part-time.

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There are also 4,338 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 20,642 full-time undergraduates at NAU, 37% are male and 63% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Northern Arizona University students is as follows.

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 438
Black or African American 586
Hispanic or Latino 5,380
White 11,622
International Students 468
Other Races/Ethnicities 2,148

Geographic Diversity

Arizona students aren't the only ones who study at Northern Arizona University. At this time, 46 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 80 countries are represented at NAU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Kuwait, China, and Saudi Arabia.

Online Learning at Northern Arizona University

6,363 Took All Classes Online
17,340 Took At Least One Class Online
-0.1% Avg Growth Over 4 Years
In 2019-2020, 17,340 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at NAU has changed over the last few years.

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This school is the 13th most popular in Arizona for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of NAU

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Northern Arizona University was $11,896 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $26,642. The following table shows how NAU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major Tuition for In-State Students Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Cultural Studies & Analysis #1 #1
English Literature (Other) #1 #1
Chemistry #1 #1
Other Science Technologies/Technicians #4 #1
Drama & Theater Arts #4 #4
Film, Video & Photographic Arts #4 #1
Communication & Journalism (Other) #4 #1
Public Relations & Advertising #4 #7
Science Technologies / Technicians #4 #1
Mechanical Engineering #4 #1
Physical Sciences #4 #4
Multilingual Education #7 #10
Geography & Cartography #7 #7
International Education #7 #1
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies #7 #1
Natural Resource Management #13 #1
Hospitality Management #19 #16
Writing Studies #19 #10
Engineering #19 #1
Communication Sciences #22 #4
Interdisciplinary Studies #25 #19
Public Health #25 #16
Criminology #25 #19
Natural Resources & Conservation #25 #4
Communication & Media Studies #27 #16
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies #31 #22
Teaching English or French #37 #25
Finance & Financial Management #37 #68
Public Administration #39 #29
Dental Support Services #40 #13
Social Work #43 #19
Student Counseling #43 #28
Communication & Journalism #51 #22
Management Information Systems #52 #52
General English Literature #52 #16
Teacher Education Subject Specific #55 #31
English Language & Literature #64 #28
Social Sciences #70 #34

Online Growth Rankings of NAU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Northern Arizona University was -0.1%. This is the #1,843 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at NAU regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of NAU majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major 1-Year Growth Rate
Business, Management & Marketing 1%
Criminal Justice & Corrections 63%
Educational Administration 0%
English Language & Literature 19%
Health Professions 1%
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 49%
Management Information Systems 19%
Public Administration & Social Service 11%
Social Work 12%
Writing Studies 24%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at NAU ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at NAU.

Major Growth Rate Rank
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies #20
Ethnic Studies #33
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies #49
Writing Studies #112
Management Information Systems #125
Social Work #148
Public Administration #205
English Language & Literature #236
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies #310
Special Education #400
Teacher Education Subject Specific #404
Public Administration & Social Service #489

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Northern Arizona University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major Basic Certificate Undergraduate Certificate Bachelor’s Graduate Certificate Master’s Doctor’s TOTAL
Nursing 0 0 526 7 42 4 579
Liberal Arts General Studies 0 0 498 0 0 0 498
General Biology 0 0 461 0 22 10 493
Business Administration & Management 10 0 328 2 151 0 491
Teacher Education Grade Specific 0 33 288 0 75 0 396
General Psychology 0 0 361 0 12 0 373
Educational Administration 0 0 0 37 264 31 332
Public Health 0 0 280 0 9 0 289
Criminology 0 0 281 0 3 0 284
Hospitality Management 62 0 210 0 0 0 272
Communication Sciences 103 0 64 0 60 0 227
Social Work 0 0 174 0 43 0 217
Teacher Education Subject Specific 0 0 140 6 64 0 210
Finance & Financial Management 51 0 136 0 0 0 187
Special Education 0 0 98 26 57 0 181
Public Relations & Advertising 0 0 153 6 0 0 159
Mechanical Engineering 0 0 144 0 7 0 151
General English Literature 58 0 84 0 0 0 142
Marketing 25 0 116 0 0 0 141
Management Information Systems 35 0 83 0 21 0 139
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 0 0 0 0 0 139 139
Student Counseling 0 0 0 2 133 0 135
Health & Physical Education 0 0 129 0 0 0 129
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 0 0 120 0 0 0 120
Forestry 50 0 47 0 13 4 114
Design & Applied Arts 0 0 99 0 0 0 99
Accounting 6 0 91 0 0 0 97
Communication & Media Studies 0 0 83 2 10 0 95
Natural Resources Conservation 0 0 85 0 10 0 95
Computer Science 0 0 83 0 5 0 88
Interdisciplinary Studies 0 0 85 0 0 0 85
Chemistry 0 0 73 0 3 0 76
Other Science Technologies/Technicians 0 0 73 0 0 0 73
Political Science & Government 0 0 69 0 0 2 71
Allied Health Professions 0 0 0 0 66 0 66
Civil Engineering 0 0 56 0 5 0 61
Mathematics 0 0 53 0 8 0 61
Sociology 0 0 55 0 6 0 61
Electrical Engineering 0 0 57 0 3 0 60
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 4 0 52 0 3 0 59
Dental Support Services 0 0 57 0 0 0 57
Writing Studies 0 0 0 8 46 0 54
Business/Managerial Economics 18 0 33 0 0 0 51
Anthropology 0 0 36 0 11 0 47
Construction Management 0 0 42 0 0 0 42
Music 1 0 28 1 10 0 40
Wildlife Management 39 0 0 0 0 0 39
History 0 0 32 0 5 0 37
Human Resource Management 34 0 0 0 0 0 34
Romance Languages 0 0 33 0 0 0 33
Journalism 0 0 32 0 0 0 32
Multilingual Education 0 0 0 0 30 0 30
Criminal Justice & Corrections 1 0 3 23 0 0 27
Linguistics & Comparative Literature 0 0 23 0 0 3 26
Geological & Earth Sciences 0 0 20 0 6 0 26
Computer Systems Analysis 0 0 25 0 0 0 25
Cultural Studies & Analysis 0 0 24 0 0 0 24
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 0 0 0 0 16 7 23
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology 0 0 22 0 0 0 22
International Relations & National Security 0 0 22 0 0 0 22
Drama & Theater Arts 0 0 22 0 0 0 22
Environmental Engineering 0 0 18 0 3 0 21
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 0 0 21 0 0 0 21
Physics 0 0 15 0 5 0 20
English Literature (Other) 0 0 0 0 19 0 19
Teaching English or French 5 0 0 2 11 0 18
Geography & Cartography 0 0 3 6 8 0 17
Computer Information Systems 0 0 1 0 7 7 15
Fine & Studio Arts 0 0 15 0 0 0 15
Sustainability Science 0 0 0 0 14 0 14
Other Physical Science 0 0 14 0 0 0 14
Public Administration 0 0 8 0 6 0 14
Ethnic Studies 0 0 7 6 0 0 13
Philosophy 0 0 12 0 0 0 12
Statistics 0 0 0 3 8 0 11
Communication & Journalism (Other) 0 0 9 0 0 0 9
Curriculum & Instruction 0 0 0 0 0 9 9
Homeland Security 9 0 0 0 0 0 9
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology 0 0 7 0 0 0 7
International Education 0 0 0 0 7 0 7
Non-Professional General Legal Studies 0 0 7 0 0 0 7
Natural Resource Management 0 0 0 0 7 0 7
International Business 6 0 0 0 0 0 6
Engineering Science 0 0 0 0 0 4 4
Astronomy & Astrophysics 0 0 4 0 0 0 4
Human Services 0 0 0 4 0 0 4
Public Policy 0 0 0 3 0 0 3
Computer Engineering 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Behavioral Science 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Zoology 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Biological Engineering 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
General Engineering 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Medical Science 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Computational Science 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Recreation Administration 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other Social Sciences 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 518 33 6,331 144 1,314 220 8,560

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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