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Northern Illinois University

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Northern Illinois University Overview

Northern Illinois University is a public institution located in Dekalb, Illinois. The suburban atmosphere of Dekalb makes it a great place for students who want the amenities of city life without actually living in the middle of a constant hustle and bustle.

What Is Northern Illinois University Known For?

3,080 Undergraduate Awards
$22,828 Avg Cost After Aid
59% Acceptance Rate
  • The highest award offered at NIU is the doctor's degree.
  • In 2019-2020, 76% of the faculty were full-time.
  • After graduation, NIU bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $52,792 a year. That's about 29% more than their peers at other schools.

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Northern Illinois University Rankings

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Program Level Awards

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

Rank Ranking Name Share
#5 Best Value Foreign Languages & Linguistics Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#9 Best Value Engineering Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#10 Best Value Mathematics & Statistics Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#14 Best Value Biological & Biomedical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#15 Best Curriculum & Instruction Doctor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#24 Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#36 Best General Biology Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#48 Best Educational Administration Doctor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#60 Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#138 Best Business Administration & Management Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank Ranking Name Source
#12 Best Value Colleges for History College Factual
#24 Best Value Colleges for English Language & Literature College Factual
#26 Best Value Colleges for Psychology College Factual
#27 Best Value Colleges for Biological & Biomedical Sciences College Factual
#27 Best Value Colleges for Communication & Journalism College Factual
#182 Best Accounting Schools College Factual

Where Is Northern Illinois University?

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Contact details for NIU are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 1425 W. Lincoln Hwy., Dekalb, IL 60115-2828
Phone: 800-892-3050
Website: www.niu.edu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthernIllUniv
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NIUlive

How Do I Get Into NIU?

You can apply to NIU online at: www.niu.edu/apply/index.shtml

Admission Requirements for NIU

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

How Hard Is It To Get Into NIU?

59% Acceptance Rate
60% Of Accepted Are Women
NIU has an acceptance rate of 59%, which means it is fairly selective. Take that into account when you are working on your application and gathering requested materials. Do what you can to stand out among other applicants.

Approximately 40% of accepted students are men and 60% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 58%, and the acceptance rate for women is 60%.

Can I Afford Northern Illinois University?

$22,828 Net Price
69% Take Out Loans
5.9% Loan Default Rate
The overall average net price of NIU is $22,828. 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 NIU, approximately 69% of students took out student loans averaging $6,741 a year. That adds up to $26,964 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at NIU is 5.9%. 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 Illinois University Undergraduate Student Diversity

10,472 Full-Time Undergraduates
54% Women
51% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 12,277 undergraduate students at NIU, with 10,472 being full-time and 1,805 being part-time.

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There are also 4,492 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 10,472 full-time undergraduates at NIU, 46% are male and 54% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 596
Black or African American 2,139
Hispanic or Latino 2,206
White 4,927
International Students 156
Other Races/Ethnicities 448

Geographic Diversity

Illinois students aren't the only ones who study at Northern Illinois University. At this time, 20 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 78 countries are represented at NIU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are India, China, and Saudi Arabia.

Online Learning at Northern Illinois University

1,499 Took All Classes Online
2,489 Took At Least One Class Online
84.2% Avg Growth Over 4 Years
In 2019-2020, 2,489 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

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This school is the 34th most popular in Illinois for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of NIU

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Northern Illinois University was $12,352 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how NIU 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
Marketing #16 #13

Online Growth Rankings of NIU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Northern Illinois University was 84.2%. This is the #468 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at NIU regardless of major.

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

Major 1-Year Growth Rate
Education 16%
Educational Administration 27%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at NIU 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 NIU.

Major Growth Rate Rank
Marketing #30
Educational Administration #58
Education #214
Business, Management & Marketing #313

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 Illinois University Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major Bachelor’s Graduate Certificate Master’s Doctor’s TOTAL
Business Administration & Management 174 0 143 0 317
General Psychology 189 0 22 14 225
Nursing 185 0 27 4 216
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 78 0 108 0 186
Communication & Media Studies 160 0 14 0 174
Computer Science 128 0 42 0 170
Health/Medical Prep Programs 164 0 0 0 164
Accounting 138 0 18 0 156
Marketing 125 0 29 0 154
Teacher Education Grade Specific 133 0 9 0 142
Mechanical Engineering 120 0 15 0 135
Teacher Education Subject Specific 40 0 94 0 134
Special Education 54 0 60 0 114
Educational Administration 0 19 60 33 112
Health & Physical Education 71 0 27 0 98
Finance & Financial Management 77 0 15 0 92
General Biology 83 0 6 1 90
Human Development & Family Studies 79 0 10 0 89
Liberal Arts General Studies 88 0 0 0 88
Electrical Engineering 66 0 19 0 85
General Engineering Technology 82 0 0 0 82
Fine & Studio Arts 73 0 8 0 81
Sociology 69 0 11 0 80
Computer Information Systems 0 0 76 0 76
Political Science & Government 67 0 5 3 75
Law 0 0 0 73 73
Industrial Engineering 28 0 42 0 70
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services 49 0 16 0 65
Music 34 7 23 0 64
Public Health 46 0 16 0 62
Communication Sciences 33 0 20 7 60
General English Literature 48 0 7 3 58
History 41 0 9 1 51
Mathematics 41 0 5 5 51
Chemistry 38 0 3 3 44
Drama & Theater Arts 37 0 6 0 43
Instructional Media Design 0 0 29 10 39
Student Counseling 0 0 32 6 38
Public Administration 0 0 35 0 35
Natural Resources Conservation 31 0 0 0 31
Romance Languages 26 0 4 0 30
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 0 0 6 24 30
Economics 19 0 3 5 27
Curriculum & Instruction 0 0 18 7 25
Philosophy 14 0 11 0 25
Engineering-Related Fields 0 0 19 0 19
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science 18 0 0 0 18
Mental & Social Health Services 18 0 0 0 18
Journalism 17 0 0 0 17
Statistics 11 0 6 0 17
Textile & Apparel Studies 15 0 0 0 15
Human Services 15 0 0 0 15
General Education 0 0 14 0 14
Anthropology 11 0 3 0 14
Educational Assessment 0 0 12 0 12
Geography & Cartography 8 0 2 2 12
Taxation 0 0 11 0 11
Allied Health Professions 11 0 0 0 11
Geological & Earth Sciences 5 0 5 0 10
Physics 2 0 5 2 9
Biomedical Engineering 8 0 0 0 8
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology 8 0 0 0 8
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 0 4 1 2 7
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 3 0 0 0 3
Germanic Languages 2 0 0 0 2
Other Health Professions 0 0 0 2 2
Applied Mathematics 0 0 1 0 1
Education Philosophy 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 3,080 30 1,182 207 4,499

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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