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?

• 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 2017-2018 academic year, 66% of the faculty were full-time.

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.

NAU has been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#19	Most Popular Online Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#60	Most Popular Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#82	Most Popular Online Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#156	Most Popular Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#178	Most Popular Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#6	Best Value Anthropology Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#12	Best Value Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Value Linguistics & Comparative Literature Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#18	Best Value Hospitality Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#32	Best Value Public Health Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#38	Best Value Social Work Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#46	Best Value Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#54	Best Value Sociology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#54	Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#124	Best Value Psychology 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
#32	Best Value Colleges for Social Sciences	College Factual
#33	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#37	Best Value Colleges for Computer & Information Sciences	College Factual
#42	Best Education Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#43	Best General Biology Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#46	Best Value Colleges for Communication & Journalism	College Factual

Where Is Northern Arizona University?

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?

The acceptance rate at Northern Arizona University is 81%. 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 36% of accepted students are men and 64% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 78%, and the acceptance rate for women is 83%.

Can I Afford Northern Arizona University?

The overall average net price of NAU is $26,137. 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

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At NAU, approximately 50% of students took out student loans averaging $5,822 a year. That adds up to $23,288 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at NAU is 6.6%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you'll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans.

Northern Arizona University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 26,511 undergraduate students at NAU, with 21,731 being full-time and 4,780 being part-time.

There are also 4,222 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 21,731 full-time undergraduates at NAU, 38% are male and 62% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	458
Black or African American	624
Hispanic or Latino	5,467
White	12,091
International Students	914
Other Races/Ethnicities	2,177

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

There are 18 bachelor’s degree and 25 master’s degree programs available online at NAU. In 2017-2018, 13,328 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.

This school is the 5th most popular in Arizona for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.

Online Growth Rankings of NAU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Northern Arizona University was 5.7%. This is the #1,618 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
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies	7%
Business Administration & Management	1%
Communication Sciences	5%
Criminology	7%
Dental Support Services	2%
Education	6%
Educational Administration	1%
English Language & Literature	5%
Ethnic Studies	7%
General English Literature	7%
General Psychology	15%
Interdisciplinary Studies	13%
Management Information Systems	1%
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies	21%
Multilingual Education	38%
Psychology	12%
Public Administration & Social Service	9%
Social Sciences	10%
Social Work	21%
Sociology	26%
Special Education	4%
Student Counseling	13%
Teacher Education Subject Specific	17%
Writing Studies	9%

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
English Literature (Other)	#2
Other Science Technologies/Technicians	#3
Science Technologies / Technicians	#4
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	#10
Interdisciplinary Studies	#11
Public Policy	#13
Multilingual Education	#14
Communication Sciences	#15
Ethnic Studies	#19
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies	#24
Dental Support Services	#26
Criminology	#26
Geography & Cartography	#31
Human Services	#32
Hospitality Management	#36
General English Literature	#39
Sociology	#39
Student Counseling	#41
Teaching English or French	#42
Homeland Security	#45
Writing Studies	#50
Management Information Systems	#52
Social Work	#54
Public Administration	#67
Public Health	#68
Communication & Media Studies	#73
English Language & Literature	#82
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies	#84
Communication & Journalism	#106
General Psychology	#107
Special Education	#139
Social Sciences	#141
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#144
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies	#146
Psychology	#148
Public Administration & Social Service	#149
Educational Administration	#188
Teacher Education Grade Specific	#192
Criminal Justice & Corrections	#285
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting	#324
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities	#350
Liberal Arts General Studies	#350
Nursing	#353
Education	#456

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	558	7	51	6	622
Liberal Arts General Studies	5	0	546	0	0	0	551
Business Administration & Management	14	0	342	4	135	0	495
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	51	335	0	70	0	456
General Biology	0	0	389	0	19	8	416
Educational Administration	0	0	0	50	273	24	347
General Psychology	0	0	286	0	10	0	296
Criminology	0	0	288	0	5	0	293
Hospitality Management	34	0	217	0	0	0	251
Public Health	0	0	249	0	0	0	249
Finance & Financial Management	68	0	173	0	0	0	241
Teacher Education Subject Specific	1	0	139	3	80	0	223
Mechanical Engineering	0	0	198	0	3	0	201
Special Education	0	0	110	30	55	0	195
Marketing	25	0	137	0	0	0	162
Public Relations & Advertising	5	0	153	0	0	0	158
Communication Sciences	81	0	0	0	68	0	149
Management Information Systems	45	0	98	0	3	0	146
Social Work	0	0	143	0	0	0	143
Health & Physical Education	0	0	138	0	0	0	138
General English Literature	58	0	73	0	1	0	132
Student Counseling	0	0	0	2	124	0	126
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	0	0	0	0	120	120
Natural Resources Conservation	0	0	93	0	14	0	107
Accounting	8	0	79	0	0	0	87
Forestry	41	0	28	0	13	5	87
Design & Applied Arts	1	0	83	0	0	0	84
Electrical Engineering	0	0	78	0	4	0	82
Sociology	0	0	76	0	6	0	82
Chemistry	0	0	75	0	3	0	78
Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	77	0	0	0	77
Other Science Technologies/Technicians	0	0	76	0	0	0	76
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	0	0	72	0	0	0	72
Political Science & Government	0	0	63	0	3	3	69
Allied Health Professions	0	0	0	0	67	0	67
Communication & Media Studies	0	0	51	2	13	0	66
Civil Engineering	0	0	61	0	2	0	63
Dental Support Services	0	0	59	0	0	0	59
Anthropology	0	0	40	0	18	0	58
Writing Studies	0	0	0	10	45	0	55
Business/Managerial Economics	25	0	29	0	0	0	54
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	0	0	48	0	0	0	48
Computer Science	0	0	42	0	3	0	45
History	0	0	40	0	3	0	43
Music	0	0	28	2	13	0	43
Mathematics	0	0	38	0	3	0	41
Construction Management	0	0	40	0	0	0	40
Wildlife Management	38	0	0	0	0	0	38
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	0	0	35	0	0	2	37
Environmental Engineering	0	0	32	0	3	0	35
Geological & Earth Sciences	0	0	24	0	11	0	35
Geography & Cartography	0	0	11	7	12	0	30
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology	0	0	28	0	0	0	28
Journalism	0	0	27	0	0	0	27
International Relations & National Security	0	0	27	0	0	0	27
Multilingual Education	0	0	0	0	26	0	26
Drama & Theater Arts	0	0	26	0	0	0	26
Cultural Studies & Analysis	0	0	24	0	0	0	24
Romance Languages	0	0	21	0	0	0	21
Fine & Studio Arts	0	0	20	0	0	0	20
Physics	0	0	14	0	5	0	19
Other Physical Science	0	0	17	0	0	0	17
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	0	0	0	16	16
English Literature (Other)	0	0	0	0	16	0	16
Teaching English or French	1	0	0	2	12	0	15
Ethnic Studies	0	0	10	5	0	0	15
Public Administration	0	0	9	0	6	0	15
General Engineering	0	0	0	0	14	0	14
Computer Systems Analysis	0	0	13	0	0	0	13
Homeland Security	13	0	0	0	0	0	13
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	0	0	0	9	4	13
Computer Engineering	0	0	12	0	0	0	12
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	0	0	12	0	0	0	12
International Business	11	0	0	0	0	0	11
Statistics	0	0	0	2	9	0	11
Philosophy	0	0	11	0	0	0	11
Human Resource Management	10	0	0	0	0	0	10
Sustainability Science	0	0	0	0	10	0	10
Non-Professional General Legal Studies	0	0	9	0	0	0	9
Communication & Journalism (Other)	0	0	8	0	0	0	8
Engineering Science	1	0	0	0	0	6	7
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	0	0	6	0	0	0	6
Natural Resource Management	0	0	0	0	6	0	6
Behavioral Science	4	0	0	0	0	0	4
Criminal Justice & Corrections	3	0	0	1	0	0	4
Biotechnology	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
Computer Information Systems	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
Astronomy & Astrophysics	0	0	2	0	0	0	2
Human Services	0	0	0	2	0	0	2
Zoology	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Entrepreneurial Studies	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Other Social Sciences	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
International Education	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Biological Engineering	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Medical Science	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Computational Science	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Medieval Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Recreation Administration	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Public Policy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	495	51	6,248	129	1,248	194	8,365

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.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Teksaz227 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.