I have attended NEIU full-time from 1994-1996 and am presently attending part time to complete the Business degree I started back then. Before attending NEIU, I attended Loyola University in Chicago for my freshman and sophomore years, but soon ran out of money to cover the cost of their expensive tuition. NEIU suddenly became a reasonable and affordable option to continue my education.

Possible Majors/Minors are as follows:

College of Arts and Sciences
Biology major
Chemistry major
Computer Science major or minor
Earth Science major
Physics major or minor
Economics major or minor
Mathematics major or minor
Psychology major

College of Business and Management
Accounting major or minor
Business Law minor
Finance major or minor
General Business Administration major
International Business minor
Marketing major or minor
Management major or minor

College of Education
ISBE Certificate for:
Early Childhood
Elementary Education
Secondary Education
Special Education

A minimum of 120 semester hours must be earned by every undergraduate student to be eligible to graduate from Northeastern. Effective with the Fall 1993 semester, all entering students must complete a minimum of 42 semester hours at the upper division level.


Tuition is currently as follows:

Undergraduate Students
Resident: $125 per credit hour
Non-Resident: $334 125 per credit hour

Graduate Students
Resident: $131 125 per credit hour
Non-Resident: $352 125 per credit hour

NEIU is located in Chicago and is surrounded by St. Louis, Bryn Maur, Pulaski, and Foster. It is not a downtown school, so it isn't quite in the midst of that super tight downtown gridlock traffic, but it's still in Chicago, which means you need to be extra wary of aggressive and/or careless drivers and possibly scarce parking at times.

There are no dormitories at NEIU, so this is pretty much a commuter school. I couldn't find any nearby train stations, either, so most likely you'll want to have a car or carpool with a friend. (There are special carpool parking spots in all the lots.)

As expected for a Chicago school, a parking space at the school is not free and there are two types of parking for differing costs. If ensuring a convenient spot is worth the money to you, you may want to consider Level 1 parking, which is a select number of areas most conveniently located nearest the several buildings.

Parking fees are currently as follows:

Level 1
Full Year: $396
Fall & Spring Semesters: $349
Single Semester: $175

Level 2
Mandatory Fee Per Credit Hour
1 - $5.75
2 - $11.50
3 - $17.25
4 - $23.00
5 - $28.75
6 - $34.50
7 - $40.25
8 - $46.00
9 - $51.75
10 - $57.50
11 - $63.25
12 or more - $69.00

I have had some great classes and teachers at NEIU, and some not so great ones, as is probably common in most universities. I have noticed that many of my teachers have had at least slight foreign accents, which can sometimes interfere with comprehension level. Both the teachers I have now are in fact from other countries - India and Egypt.

The student mix tends to be diverse as well. All kinds of students attend NEIU. You should feel right at home no matter what age, sex, ethnicity, etc. you may be. I might go so far as to say that most of the names I encounter in my classes are foreign names I have never heard of before.

The class registration procedure is currently an automated telephone deal, where each class has a specific 5-digit code. Students are mailed their earliest registration time, which is based on credit hours earned, so seniors get to register before freshman, but it's just a matter of a few days. There is a website in place, where students can access catalog, scheduling, and other specific information regarding the school, but online registration is not (yet) available. The website is www.neiu.edu. To find a current class schedule in Adobe Acrobat format, click on Search and type in schedule. I couldn't find it in any of the categories.

UPDATE (11/3/08):
Since I wrote this review, NEIU has redesigned the website and has finally created an online-only system of registration for classes via NEIUport.  Tuition has also gone up over the years. (Spring 2009 will cost me $650 for one class.)  Current info should be found within the latest Class Schedule.  Use the "Quick Link" feater at the main website to find it.

Recommended: Yes