Olivet Nazarene University Overview

Located in Bourbonnais, Illinois, Olivet Nazarene University is a private not-for-profit institution. Olivet Nazarene is located in a safe and convenient suburb.

What Is Olivet Nazarene University Known For?

• The 3% student loan default rate at Olivet Nazarene is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
• The highest award offered at Olivet Nazarene is the doctor's degree.
• For the 2017-2018 academic year, 32% of the faculty were full-time.
• It takes the average Olivet Nazarene student 4.2 years to graduate. This is pretty good when compared to the national rate of 4.4 years.

Olivet Nazarene 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.

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#80	Best Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#5	Best Teaching English or French Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#9	Best Value Teaching English or French Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#12	Best Theological & Ministerial Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#21	Best Special Education Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#38	Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#39	Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#46	Best Value Curriculum & Instruction Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#46	Best Curriculum & Instruction Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#55	Best Value Teacher Education Subject Specific Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#74	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#25	Best Reading Teacher Education Schools	College Factual
#37	Best Teaching Graduate Certificate Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#43	Best Curriculum & Instruction Schools	College Factual
#43	Best Curriculum & Instruction Schools	College Factual
#117	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Schools	College Factual
#121	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	College Factual

Where Is Olivet Nazarene University?

Contact details for Olivet Nazarene are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	One University Avenue, Bourbonnais, IL 60914-2271
Phone:	815-939-5011
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/OlivetNazareneUniversity
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/OlivetNazareneU

How Do I Get Into Olivet Nazarene?

You can apply to Olivet Nazarene online at: https://www.olivet.edu/apply

Admission Requirements for Olivet Nazarene

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Olivet Nazarene?

The acceptance rate at Olivet Nazarene is 67%, which is a sign that the school is fairly selective. While it may not be as hard to get into as other colleges, you should not take admission for granted.

Approximately 39% of accepted students are men and 50% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 74%, and the acceptance rate for women is 75%.

Average Test Scores

About 70% of students accepted to Olivet Nazarene submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 490 and 600. Math scores were between 480 and 590.

Olivet Nazarene received ACT scores from 44% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 19 and 27. Math scores were between 18 and 26. Composite scores were between 19 and 26.

Can I Afford Olivet Nazarene University?

The overall average net price of Olivet Nazarene is $27,761. 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 Olivet Nazarene, approximately 78% of students took out student loans averaging $6,929 a year. That adds up to $27,716 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Olivet Nazarene is 3.4%. 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.

Olivet Nazarene University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,802 undergraduate students at Olivet Nazarene, with 2,562 being full-time and 240 being part-time.

There are also 962 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,562 full-time undergraduates at Olivet Nazarene, 42% are male and 58% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Olivet Nazarene University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	58
Black or African American	192
Hispanic or Latino	297
White	1,860
International Students	29
Other Races/Ethnicities	126

Geographic Diversity

Illinois students aren't the only ones who study at Olivet Nazarene University. At this time, 37 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 24 countries are represented at Olivet Nazarene. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Spain, Canada, and Brazil.

Online Learning at Olivet Nazarene University

There are 3 bachelor’s degree and 10 master’s degree programs available online at Olivet Nazarene. In 2019-2020, 2,253 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

This school is the 9th 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 Olivet Nazarene

The following table shows how Olivet Nazarene 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
Multilingual Education	#31	#28
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	#37	#37
Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries	#55	#55
Interdisciplinary Studies	#57	#57
Philosophy & Religious Studies	#69	#66

Online Growth Rankings of Olivet Nazarene

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Olivet Nazarene University was -4.4%. This is the #1,921 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Olivet Nazarene regardless of major.

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

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Educational Administration	17%
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	28%
Multilingual Education	67%
Special Education	40%
Teacher Education Subject Specific	5%

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

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Multilingual Education	#40
Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries	#69
Interdisciplinary Studies	#75
Teaching English or French	#138
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	#144
Theological & Ministerial Studies	#167
Theology & Religious Vocations	#255
Curriculum & Instruction	#305
Special Education	#426
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#439

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%.

Olivet Nazarene University Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Nursing	152	4	96	0	252
Teacher Education Subject Specific	23	16	160	0	199
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	168	0	168
Business Administration & Management	59	0	70	0	129
General Engineering	79	0	0	0	79
Teaching English or French	0	51	0	0	51
Special Education	6	29	0	0	35
Economics	33	0	0	0	33
General Biology	32	0	0	0	32
Criminal Justice & Corrections	32	0	0	0	32
General Psychology	31	0	0	0	31
Marketing	28	0	0	0	28
Teacher Education Grade Specific	28	0	0	0	28
Health & Physical Education	26	0	0	0	26
Communication & Media Studies	24	0	0	0	24
Fine & Studio Arts	23	0	0	0	23
Social Work	21	0	0	0	21
Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries	14	0	7	0	21
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	18	0	0	0	18
Theological & Ministerial Studies	8	0	7	0	15
Other Education	0	0	0	14	14
Educational Administration	0	5	7	0	12
Political Science & Government	12	0	0	0	12
Public Relations & Advertising	11	0	0	0	11
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	11	0	0	0	11
Zoology	10	0	0	0	10
Accounting	10	0	0	0	10
Music	10	0	0	0	10
Multilingual Education	0	4	5	0	9
Human Development & Family Studies	9	0	0	0	9
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	8	0	0	0	8
Romance Languages	7	0	0	0	7
Allied Health Professions	7	0	0	0	7
Design & Applied Arts	7	0	0	0	7
International Business	6	0	0	0	6
History	6	0	0	0	6
Mathematics	5	0	0	0	5
Chemistry	5	0	0	0	5
Missionary Studies	5	0	0	0	5
Religious Education	5	0	0	0	5
General English Literature	4	0	0	0	4
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	4	0	0	0	4
Religious Studies	3	0	1	0	4
Management Information Systems	3	0	0	0	3
Computer Programming	3	0	0	0	3
Computer Science	3	0	0	0	3
General Family & Consumer Sciences	2	0	0	0	2
Data Science	2	0	0	0	2
Other Philosophy & Religious Studies	2	0	0	0	2
Public Policy	2	0	0	0	2
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	1	0	0	0	1
Computer Information Systems	1	0	0	0	1
Information Science	1	0	0	0	1
Information Technology	1	0	0	0	1
Liberal Arts General Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Interdisciplinary Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Geological & Earth Sciences	1	0	0	0	1
General Social Sciences	1	0	0	0	1
Sociology	1	0	0	0	1
Biblical Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Sacred Music	1	0	0	0	1
General Physical Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
Geography & Cartography	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	810	109	521	14	1,454

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

More about our data sources and methodologies.