Admission Information

General

Admission requirements may vary from program to program. Therefore, we encourage you to make an appointment with an enrollment representative to be certain you have all of the information you need. Please call 888.nlu.today or go to www.nl.edu for application materials and other important information. Information about NCE doctoral programs can be requested from the Director of Doctoral Studies.

Complete applications are reviewed upon receipt with the following exceptions:

• Educational Psychology and all NCE doctoral programs: completed applications are due by April 15 and October 15, depending upon your anticipated start date.
• Also note, with the exception of Educational Psychology, all NCE non-doctoral students may take up to nine semester hours of degree program coursework prior to admission.

Doctoral

• Doctoral programs in Curriculum and Social Inquiry, Educational Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Reading and Language, and Disability and Equity in Education are offered through the National College of Education.
• Doctoral programs in Adult Education and Community College Leadership are offered through the College of Arts and Sciences.
• Information about the Graduate Record Examination may be obtained from the Educational Testing Service at 800.473.2255. Applicants should allow approximately six weeks for pencil and paper scores to be reported to the Office of Admissions and Records; scores from the computer test are reported in about two weeks. NLU's school code is 1551.
• Doctoral students are eligible for financial support. Scholarships are awarded after admission to the program.

Registration Information

• Please remember to register early
• Non-cluster students are encouraged to register online.
• If you have committed to a guaranteed sequence, you will be notified via email of an earlier online registration opportunity.
• You may also register on the Chicago, North Shore, Lisle or Wheeling campus using a registration form. Please note that there is an earlier deadline if you mail in your registration.
• A non-refundable $95 tuition deposit is required from all new students. The deposit will be applied against your tuition charges.
• For you to receive a 100% refund, you must contact the Registrar in writing, with a request to drop, prior to the start of the quarter either by fax 847.465.4746 or via your NLU email account to DNesbitt-Mohammed@nl.edu.
• Dropping one or more classes during the first week of the quarter will result in a 90% refund.
• Registration changes for adding must be complete by the end of the FIRST week of classes.
• The complete Refund Policy can be found at the Office of Admissions and Records site.
• During the week of late registration, NCE graduate classes with low enrollment will be canceled.
• If you were enrolled in one of these classes, you will be notified of the class cancellation via NLU email and will have the opportunity to register for another class. You will not have to come on campus to register for a replacement class. You can register, in this case, by responding to the email or calling the individual who contacted you regarding the canceled class.

Diploma and Degree Information

• Degrees are awarded four times a year, once at the end of each academic term. Please note that NLU's transcripts and diplomas reflect a degree awarded only on one of these dates.
• You must submit a Diploma and Degree Finalization Request and pay the degree finalization fee, even if you decide not to participate in a commencement ceremony.
• Degree finalization is the process of verifying that all of your degree requirements have been completed, posting the degree to the your transcript, and ordering a diploma.
• This process is initiated after you complete the online request, starting with the link below.
• Diploma and Degree Finalization Requests must be received by the Office of Admissions and Records by a certain deadline before each degree award date.
• Please review the Diploma and Degree Finalization Application Deadlines before applying. Field program students should apply for the diploma date that falls directly after the official end date of their classes.
• If circumstances change and you will not complete your requirements by the date for which you have applied, you can submit another Degree and Diploma Finalization Request online to request a change in your degree award date.
• If the request for a change in date is made after the original diploma date has passed, your student account will be charged a $35 reprocessing fee.
• Your student account will be charged the corresponding degree finalization fee. This fee will appear on your account after your request has been processed. You can pay your account balance online through your portal; by mailing a check; or at any campus. Please note that a payment is always applied to the oldest charge on your account.
• You may register for your commencement ceremony as part of the online degree finalization request, since registration for the ceremony is open only to students who are finishing their program.
• Diplomas are mailed to students approximately eight weeks after the official diploma date. Diploma and Transcripts will not be issued until all financial obligations have been met.

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