Education at Northern Illinois University

If you are interested in studying education, you may want to check out the program at Northern Illinois University. The following information will help you decide if it is a good fit for you.

NIU is located in Dekalb, Illinois and has a total student population of 16,769. In 2021, 227 education majors received their bachelor's degree from NIU.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Education section at the bottom of this page.

NIU Education Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Education
• Master’s Degree in Education
• Doctorate Degree in Education

Online Classes Are Available at NIU

If you are a working student or have a busy schedule, you may want to consider taking online classes. While these classes used to be mostly populated by returning adults, more and more traditional students are turning to this option.

Are you one of the many who prefer to take online classes? NIU offers distance education options for education at the following degree levels:

• Master’s Degree

NIU Education Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the education progam at NIU compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: Rankings don't always give a complete picture of a school's strengths and weaknesses, so it's a good idea to extend your research and also look at other factors when trying to decide if the school is right for you.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The education major at NIU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Education. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Popular Education Doctor’s Degree Schools	49
Best Education Doctor’s Degree Schools	72
Most Popular Education Schools	100
	157
Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	261
Most Popular Education Graduate Certificate Schools	282
	285

In 2021, 328 students received their master’s degree in education from NIU. This makes it the #89 most popular school for education master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 56 students who received their doctoral degrees in education, making the school the #50 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Education Student Demographics at NIU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the education majors at Northern Illinois University.

NIU Education Bachelor’s Program

The education program at NIU awarded 227 bachelor's degrees in 2020-2021. About 15% of these degrees went to men with the other 85% going to women.

About 69% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in education at NIU are white. This is above average for this degree on the nationwide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a bachelor's in education.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	7
Black or African American	10
Hispanic or Latino	49
White	156
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	5

NIU Education Master’s Program

The education program at NIU awarded 328 master's degrees in 2020-2021. About 27% of these degrees went to men with the other 73% going to women. Nationwide, master's degree programs only see 19% men graduate in education each year. NIU does a better job at serving the male population as it supports 8% more men than average.

Of the students who received a education master's degree from NIU, 68% were white. This is above average for this degree on the natiowide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a master's in education.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	23
Black or African American	22
Hispanic or Latino	39
White	224
International Students	13
Other Races/Ethnicities	7

NIU also has a doctoral program available in education. In 2021, 56 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Education

Education majors may want to concentrate their studies in one of these areas. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from Northern Illinois University. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Teacher Education Grade Specific	142
Teacher Education Subject Specific	134
Special Education	114
Educational Administration	112
Instructional Media Design	39
Student Counseling	38
Curriculum & Instruction	25
General Education	14
Educational Assessment	12

Related Majors

• History
• Family, Consumer & Human Sciences
• Communication & Journalism
• Social Sciences
• Psychology

Careers That Education Grads May Go Into

A degree in education can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for IL, the home state for Northern Illinois University.

Occupation	Jobs in IL	Average Salary in IL
Elementary School Teachers	65,630	$62,140
Teacher Assistants	60,630	$27,710
High School Teachers	43,720	$72,370
Preschool Teachers	24,120	$31,500
Middle School Teachers	22,320	$63,860

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
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Andy McMurray under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.