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Northeastern is a private, not-for-profit university in Boston, Massachusetts. Students going to school in this world-famous city can look forward to sightseeing many of the most well-known sights in the country—the Paul Revere House, Fenway Park, and Boston Common, for example. The restored USS Constitution, which looks just as it did in its sailing days, is also available for touring—current Navy sailors man the ship and assist tourists.
Overview of Northeastern University
Northeastern University, which was founded in 1898, is large, giving students a wide variety of degree programs from which to choose. If, for instance, they are majoring in music, the New England Conservatory of Music is close by.
Northeastern provides campus housing for its students. The student body consists of 21,600+ enrolled, with around 13,900 of the students filling the undergraduate class and graduate students numbering around 7,700, or 38% of the total. Female students slightly outnumber male students, 52% to 48%. The student-to-faculty ratio is 14 to 1, meaning that students might have less access to their professor, including needing to request an appointment to see a professor during office hours if they have questions about one of their classes. The school’s Carnegie classification is listed as very high research activity.
General Information
School Type | Private not-for-profit |
---|---|
Campus Setting | City: Large |
Campus Housing | Yes |
Student Faculty Ratio | 14:1 |
Graduation Rate | 88% |
Year Founded | 1898 |

Student Enrollment
Total Students21,627
13,909
7,718
Undergraduate Student
Male 6,676
Female 7,233
Graduate Student
Male 3,705
Female 4,013
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Top Rankings For Northeastern University
#16 in Nursing Colleges

#40 in Computer Science

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Admissions
APPLICATION62,272
ACCEPTANCE11,832
Acceptance Rate19%
Enrollment 2,721
Admissions | |
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Application Fee | $75 |
High School GPA | Required |
High School Rank | Recommended |
High School Transcripts | Required |
College Prep Courses | Recommended |
Recommendations | Required |
SAT/ACT | Required |
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) | Required |
Application Deadline | January 1 |
Common Application Accepted | Yes |
Tuition Cost & Financial Aid
The sticker price (tuition, fees, books, supplies, and room and board) is costly at around $73,200. In-state and out-of-state tuition alone is $53,500. Room and board runs to $16,900 and books and supplies cost around $1,000. Other expenses cost about $1,800.
Financial aid can cover a large portion of the entire cost of one academic year. The amount that is left is known as the average net price, which is the portion that is supposed to be paid by students’ families. Not every family earns the same amount of money every year, so the university breaks down the expected net price by income, as follows:
- Families earning up to $30,000 pay around $12,168
- Families earning between $30,001 and $48,000 pay around $14,186
- Families earning between $48,001 and $75,000 pay around $18,627
- Families earning between $75,001 and $100,000 pay around $27,272
- Families earning $100,001 and higher pay around $44,248
Many freshmen who apply for financial aid receive a large award that takes care of much of their tuition, books, fees, and room and board. Seventy-three percent of freshmen, or 2,254, received an average of $33,662 in grants and scholarships; 72% of freshmen, or 2,243, received an average of $32,228 in institutional grants and scholarships.
Average net price | 2017-2018 |
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Net Price | $34,245 |
Average Total Aid | $33,662 |
Students Receiving Financial Aid | 77% |
Room & Board | $16,930 |
Sticker Price
- Tuition In-State - $53,506
- Tuition Out-of-State - $53,506
- Books and Supplies - $1,000
- Room & Board - $16,930
- Other - $1,800
Academics
First-time students have a 97% retention rate. This means that the freshmen are returning to Northeastern for their second academic year. The 6-year graduation rate, becoming more popular than the 4-year rate in many schools, is 88%, meaning that the majority of the graduates felt they needed to remain in school beyond the 4-year mark so they could satisfactorily complete their classes.
All of these numbers are vital because they attest to the high quality of the university, its programs, and its faculty. If students are going to be attending a university of this level, they are likely going to need to be students who earned a high GPA in high school, or they will need to have something else big under their belt when they apply.
Northeastern does not offer evening classes; however, it does offer online classes for those students who are unable to attend classes in the daytime hours.
Northeastern University also offers a full range of degree programs. Some of the most popular include biological and biomedical sciences; business, management, marketing and related support services; communication, journalism and related programs; and computer and information sciences and support services. Other majors they offer include engineering, health professions and related programs, mathematics and statistics, psychology, social sciences, and visual and performing arts.
Retention
Rate
4 year
Graduation
Rate
6 year
Graduation
Rate
Student Population Total
Student Population 21,627
13,909
7,718
Most Popular Programs & Majors
(# of Diplomas Awarded by Subject)
All Business Majors | 999 Total Graduates / 24% |
---|---|
Business/Commerce, General | 898 Graduates |
International Business/Trade/Commerce | 101 Graduates |
All Engineering Majors | 806 Total Graduates / 20% |
Mechanical Engineering | 222 Graduates |
Chemical Engineering | 154 Graduates |
Computer Engineering, General | 97 Graduates |
Industrial Engineering | 91 Graduates |
Electrical and Electronics Engineering | 85 Graduates |
Health Professions and Related Programs | 426 Total Graduates / 10% |
Pharmacy | 120 Graduates |
Health and Medical Administrative Services, Other | 109 Graduates |
Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | 105 Graduates |
Physical Therapy/Therapist | 71 Graduates |
Audiology/Audiologist and Speech-Language Pathology/Pathologist | 14 Graduates |
All Social Science Majors | 413 Total Graduates / 10% |
Econometrics and Quantitative Economics | 183 Graduates |
Political Science and Government, General | 105 Graduates |
International Relations and Affairs | 69 Graduates |
Sociology | 25 Graduates |
All Biological & Biomedical Majors | 362 Total Graduates / 9% |
Biology/Biological Sciences, General | 134 Graduates |
Neuroscience | 134 Graduates |
Biochemistry | 55 Graduates |
Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology | 24 Graduates |
Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography | 10 Graduates |
All Other Diplomas | 26% |
Outcome & Salary
When students graduate from their university, they want their years in school to pay off. And, for graduates of Northeastern, their educations do allow them to make a good living. The average salary of a Northeastern graduate is $76,000; their early career salary is $62,500 and their mid-career salary is $109,700.
This brings up the return on investment (ROI). The 10-year salary earnings potential is $760,000; their 20-year salary earnings potential is $1,857,000. Their cost of education (4-year) is $136,980. Those numbers allow us to estimate a 10-year projected ROI, which is around $623,020 for graduates of Northeastern University; their 20-year ROI is $1,720,020.
High school graduates who don’t go to college earn a national average salary of $37,960. Their 10-year projected income is $379,600 and their 20-year projected income is $759,200.
Graduates Salary | |
---|---|
College Grads Early Career Salary | $62,500 |
College Grads Average Salary | $76,000 |
College Grads Mid Career Salary | $109,700 |
Return on Investment (ROI) | |
---|---|
10 Year Salary Earnings Potential | $760,000 |
20 Year Salary Earnings Potential | $1,857,000 |
Cost of Education (Net Price) 4 Year | $136,980 |
10 Year Projected ROI | $623,020 |
20 Year Projected ROI | $1,720,020 |
No Colleage Education Salary Comparison | |
---|---|
National Average Salary | $37,960 |
10 Year Projected Income | $379,600 |
20 Year Projected Income | $759,200 |

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