Northern Michigan University College Portrait

Test(s) Required for Admission: SAT or ACT recommended

50% of admitted students have test scores within the ranges listed, 25% have scores above, and 25% have scores below.

Typical Undergraduate Costs for 2010-11 without Financial Aid (Full-Time, In-State Students)

Total Typical Cost of Attendance: $17,488.00

The cost to attend Northern Michigan University varies based on the individual circumstances of students and may be reduced through grants and scholarships.

How much would I pay?

Financial Aid: How much help is there to pay?

Scholarships & Grants

• 35% of 2010-11 full-time undergraduates received need-based grants or scholarships; the average award for the year was $4,944.00. Scholarships and grants are financial aid that does not need to be repaid and is sometimes referred to as gift aid.

Annual Need-Based Loans

• 47% of 2010-11 full-time undergraduates received need-based work-study and/or loans (not including parent loans); the average loan for the year was $4,262.00. Loans need to be repaid. Typically, repayment starts once you are no longer enrolled full-time. Please refer to page 12 of the Funding Education Beyond High School guide on the US Department of Education's Federal Student Aid website for more information about Financial Need.

Percent of 2010 Full-time Beginning Students Receiving Each Type of Financial Aid

NOTE: Students may receive aid from more than one source.

75% of new freshmen live in campus-based housing or residence halls.
38% of all undergraduates live on campus

NMU takes pride in providing a welcoming, secure environment for learning and living. Our online and emergency text notification systems are ready to keep students, faculty and staff aware of urgent safety issues. As well as crime prevention, our public safety officers provide motorist assistance, escorts and personal safety training. Ongoing training prepares us for potential emergencies from fires to pandemics, from chemical spills to simple inclement weather.

The Carnegie Classification's were created "to reference the great diversity of colleges and universities in the United States, and ... enable [people] to identify groups of roughly comparable institutions." For information on the Carnegie Classifications system, please visit their website: http://classifications.carnegiefoundation.org/

Basic Type

Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs)

Size and Setting

Medium four-year, primarily nonresidential

Enrollment Profile

Very high undergraduate

Undergraduate Profile

Full-time four-year, inclusive

Undergraduate Instructional Program

Balanced arts & sciences/professions, some graduate coexistence

Graduate Instructional Program

Postbaccalaureate comprehensive

NOTE: Institutional classifications based on the Carnegie 2005 edition.

The university has regualar research survey programs that evaluate student attitude and experiences.

Institutions participating in the VSA program measure student involvement on campus using one of four national surveys. Results from the one survey are reported for a common set of questions selected as part of VSA. Following are the selected results from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The questions have been grouped together in categories that are known to contribute to student learning and development. The results reported below are based on the responses of seniors who participated in the survey.

Group Learning Experiences

• 92% percent of seniors worked with classmates on assignments outside of class.
• 56% of seniors tutored or taught other students
• 28% of seniors spent at least 6 hours per week participating in co-curricular activities such as student organizations and intramural sports

Active Learning Experiences

• 88% of seniors spent at least 6 hours per week preparing for class
• 16% of seniors worked on a research project with a faculty member
• 52% of seniors participated in an internship, practicum, or field experience
• 64% of seniors participated in community service or volunteer work
• 14% of seniors participated in study abroad
• 95% of seniors made at least one class presentation last year

Institutional Commitment to Student Learning and Success

• 97% of seniors believe this institution provides support for student success
• 70% of seniors rated the quality of academic advising at this institution as good or excellent
• 67% of seniors reported that this institution provided help in coping with work, family and other non-academic responsibilities
• 94% of seniors reported working harder than they thought they could to meet an instructor's standards or expectations

Student Interaction with Campus Faculty and Staff

• 55% of seniors believed that the campus staff were helpful, considerate, or flexible
• 75% of seniors believed that faculty are available, helpful, or sympathetic
• 97% of seniors reported that faculty members provided prompt feedback on their academic performance
• 77% of seniors discussed readings or ideas with faculty members outside of class

Experiences with Diverse Groups of People and Ideas

• 64% of seniors reported that they often tried to understand someone else's point of view
• 84% of seniors reported their experience at this institution contributed to their understanding people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds
• 38% of seniors often had serious conversations with students of a different race or ethnicity

Student Satisfaction

• 83% of seniors would attend this institution if they started over again
• 85% of seniors rated their entire educational experience as good or excellent
• 84% of seniors reported that other students were friendly or supportive

A 103% four-year success and progress rate means that 103% of students starting in Fall 2005 either graduated or are still enrolled at a higher education institution four years later.

Counts for the Fall 2005 entering class shown in the graph above.

• 919 First-Time, Full-Time Students
• 200 Full-Time Transfer Students

First-time students in Fall 2010 that returned for their second year: 73%

All colleges and universities use multiple approaches to measure student learning. Many of these are specific to particular disciplines, many are coordinated with accrediting agencies, and many are based on outcomes after students have graduated.

All academic departments at Northern Michigan University submit Outcomes Assessment Reports containing four evaluated components: Learning outcome (objective), Means of Assessment (method), Summary of data (results), Usage (changes for improvement). Procedures for conducting this annual review of program learning outcomes are available on the NMU accreditation website. The site includes an inventory of assessment plans and recent results. A two-year Academic Program Review Task Force is underway to implement a new process for reviewing overall program quality. Outcomes assessment is one component of that review.

For areas in which peer comparison are available, NMU placed well in learning outcomes. In the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification results for secondary education majors in 2010-2011, NMU seniors outperformed the state passage rate in 28 out of 33 disciplines (84%). In all nine assessment categories of the Biology Major Field Test, NMU biology seniors scored in the highest category, the 95th percentile. Eighty-nine percent of nursing students were successful on their first attempt at the NCLEX-RN exam, exceeding the 87% national NCLEX-RN mean. Students majoring in five subdisciplines of Clinical Sciences requiring certification exceeded national average/pass rates on certification exams. In the Business Major Field Test, NMU business seniors scored at the 83rd percentile overall. Health, PE & Recreation faculty piloted a wiki to store and review outcomes assessment in their program.  Learning outcomes assessment for all programs can be viewed within the NMU AQIP website.

The General Education component of undergraduate education at NMU is labeled the “Liberal Studies Program” and is overseen by a Liberal Studies Committee. The program consists of seven divisions and the Committee uses a rotational method to assess general education learning outcomes. Two to three divisions are assessed each summer using student artifacts collected from courses taught that academic year. The Committee uses trained evaluators and an agreed upon rubric to evaluate the artifacts, compiles the results into a summary report, presents them to the Academic Senate and distributes them to the relevant academic departments. The assessment documents are available on the Liberal Studies Program website.

Colleges and universities participating in the College Portrait measure the typical improvement in students' abilities to think, reason, and write using one of three tests. This is part of a pilot project to better understand and compare what students learn between their freshman and senior years at different colleges and universities.

Northern Michigan University will implement the ETS Proficiency Profile in academic year 2012-13.