R1 ResearchPrivate nonprofitMedical

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois·Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above·Great Lakes·northwestern.edu
6-yr Graduation
95%
+1.0pp vs R1 Research
Total enrollment
23,856
peer median 16,123
Avg net price
$29,167
+$5.1k vs R1 Research
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AboutAdmissionsOutcomesProgram outcomesAccreditationCostFederal aidLoan defaultsAcademic programsEnrollment trendsAthleticsCampus safetyFacultyPeersIR OfficeCommon Data SetDocumentsAlumni

About

Northwestern University (NU) is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851, it is the oldest chartered university in Illinois. Northwestern was initially affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church but later became non-sectarian. By 1900, the university was the third-largest university in the United States, after Michigan and Harvard. Northwestern became a founding member of the Big Ten Conference in 1896 and joined the Association of American Universities in 1917.

Admissions & acceptance rate

First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.

IPEDS
Applied
49,474
49,474 candidates competed
Admitted
3,806
7.7% acceptance rate
Enrolled
2,105
55.3% yield

Graduation rate & outcomes

Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.

IPEDS
Overall completion
95%+1.0pp vs R1 Research
4-year graduation
83%
6-year graduation (bachelor’s)
95%
Full-time retention
98%

Pell equity

1.5pp gap
Pell recipients
94%372 of 397
Non-Pell (all)
96%1463 of 1532
Subsidized loan, no Pell
94%180 of 192
No Federal Aid
96%1283 of 1340

Pell and non-Pell students graduate at nearly identical rates, a notably small equity gap.

Source: IPEDS Graduation Rates (GR) — Pell/SSL cohort, 2024 cohort.

Program outcomes

Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.

FVT/GE

Of 250 Title IV programs, 70 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 1 fails. 179 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.

Total programs
250
Passing
70
28.0% of portfolio
Failing (GE)
1
0.4% of portfolio
Fail rate
0.4%
-0.2pp vs 0.6% national

Pass / fail distribution

250programs
  • Passing70 · 28.0%
  • No Data179 · 71.6%
  • Failing1 · 0.4%

Severity spectrum

Critical
1
Severe
0
Recoverable
0
At Risk
0
Watch
2
Safe
68
No data
179

Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.

Earnings premium gap

Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.

71
Music
Master's Degree · Visual And Performing Arts
-29.5%
$34,062 vs $48,304
Communication Disorders Sciences and Services
Master's Degree · Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
+19.4%
$71,781 vs $60,112
Clinical Counseling and Applied Psychology
Master's Degree · Psychology
+24.9%
$60,758 vs $48,653
History
Doctoral Degree · History
+30.1%
$70,118 vs $53,884
Public Health
Master's Degree · Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
+36.7%
$82,202 vs $60,112
Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions
Doctoral Degree · Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
+37.5%
$82,633 vs $60,112
Music
Doctoral Degree · Visual And Performing Arts
+37.8%
$66,572 vs $48,304
Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions
Master's Degree · Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
+38.4%
$83,218 vs $60,112

Debt vs earnings

Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.

57
Clinical Counseling and Applied Psychology
Master's Degree · Psychology
241%
$146,155 debt · $60,758 earn
Medicine
First Professional Degree · Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
216%
$203,094 debt · $94,158 earn
Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions
Doctoral Degree · Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
195%
$161,447 debt · $82,633 earn
Communication Disorders Sciences and Services
Master's Degree · Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
166%
$118,769 debt · $71,781 earn
Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions
Master's Degree · Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
153%
$127,350 debt · $83,218 earn
Music
Master's Degree · Visual And Performing Arts
151%
$51,459 debt · $34,062 earn
Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions
Master's Degree · Health Professions And Related Clinical Sciences
123%
$105,910 debt · $85,999 earn
Arts Entertainment and Media Management
Master's Degree · Visual And Performing Arts
110%
$76,045 debt · $69,411 earn

Accreditation status & history

Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.

DAPIP
AccreditedInstitutional accreditor

Higher Learning Commission

Accredited since 1913Next review Aug 2035

Programmatic accreditations · 14

Action history · 11

  1. Aug 2025Renewal of Accreditation
    Higher Learning Commission
  2. Jul 2024Renewal of Accreditation
    American Psychological Association, Commission on Accreditation · Clinical Psychology (CLPSY) - PhD Doctoral programs
  3. Feb 2024Renewal of Accreditation
    American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology · Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) - Graduate degree programs
  4. Feb 2024Renewal of Accreditation
    American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology · Clinical doctoral program in Audiology
  5. Jan 2023Renewal of Accreditation
    Council on Education for Public Health · Public Health Programs (PHPG) - Graduate level program offered outside a school of public health

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Tuition & cost

What families actually pay, broken down by family income.

College Scorecard

Net price by family income

Aid exceeds costFamily pays
$0–30k$1,764
$30–48k$6,099
$48–75k$7,898
$75–110k$18,282
$110k+$48,777

Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.

Avg net price (private)
$29,167
+$5,078vs R1 Research median $24,090
Federal loans
17.1%
In-state tuition
$68,322
Out-of-state
$68,322

Federal aid volume & trends

Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.

Federal Student Aid

In AY 2024–25, 2,067 students received $13.2M in Pell grants, alongside $217.0M in federal Direct Loans.

Pell recipients
2,067
AY 2024–25
Pell disbursed
$13.2M
$13,217,193 total
Direct Loans
$217.0M
8,755 loan awards

Pell recipients · 5-year trend

2k
’20
2k
’21
2k
’22
2k
’23
2k
’24

Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25

Subsidized$4.4M
1,135 loan awards
Unsubsidized · UG$5.0M
1,217 loan awards
Unsubsidized · Grad$70.0M
3,368 loan awards
Parent PLUS$9.2M
245 loan awards
Grad PLUS$128.4M
2,790 loan awards

Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Student loan default rate

The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.

Cohort Default Rate

Of 2,861 borrowers who entered repayment, 5 (0.1%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.

Default rate
0.1%
-2.2pp vs 2.3% national
Borrowers in repayment
2,861
Defaulted
5
Measurement window
3 years
Federal CDR standard

Default rate vs national, by cohort

2016
1.0%
2017
0.8%
2018
0.6%
2019
0.1%
2020*
0.0%
This institutionNational rate

* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Academic programs at Northwestern

Top program areas ranked by completions.

IPEDS
Distinct CIP programs234
UndergraduateOffered
GraduateOffered

Top program families by completions

8,668 total completions
01Business
2,57929.8%
02Engineering
86910.0%
03Health Professions
8439.7%
04Social Sciences
8109.3%
05Communication
8039.3%
06Legal Professions
6637.6%
07Psychology
6417.4%
08Computer Sciences
5646.5%
09Biological Sciences
4615.3%
10Visual/Performing Arts
4355.0%

Enrollment trends & demographics

Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.

IPEDS
Fall total
23,856
12-mo unduplicated
27,226
Undergraduate
10,890
Graduate
16,336

Gender split

Men
45%12,175
Women
55%15,051

Race / ethnicity composition

White
30.6%
Asian
21.2%
Hispanic
15.8%
Non-resident
11.6%
Black
8.4%
Two or more
7.9%
Unknown
4.4%
American Indian / Alaska Native
0.1%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander
0.1%

Athletics & Title IX gender equity

How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.

EADA
Athletes
518
262 M · 256 W
Women athletes
49.4%
Athletic aid
$27.9M
Total student aid
Budget
$131.8M
Total expenses

Men vs women · spending splits

Athletic student aid
$14.9M
$13.0M
Recruiting expense
$1.9M
$611K
Head-coach salaries
$1.1M
$320K
Men Women

Sport-by-sport · 14

Football
109 M · —
$37.9M
Soccer
29 M · 31 W
$4.1M
Swimming and Diving (combined)
25 M · 32 W
$3.8M
Lacrosse
— · 40 W
$3.0M
Baseball
39 M · —
$3.2M
Fencing
— · 31 W
$1.5M

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Campus safety & crime statistics

Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.

Clery Act
Criminal offenses · per 1,000 students
7.84
182 offenses · 23,203 students

3-year trend

3.802 yrs ago8.031 yr ago7.84Latest
Offenses · 3-yr
457
Last three years
VAWA · 3-yr
124
DV, dating, stalking
Hate crimes · 3-yr
15
Res-hall fires · 3-yr
2

Criminal offenses by type

Motor vehicle theft
123
Fondling
13
Aggravated assault
12
Robbery
11
Rape
10
Burglary
10
Arson
3

By location

182total
  • On campus136
  • Public property46

Includes 13 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).

VAWA offenses

25
Domestic violence
7
Dating violence
9
Stalking
41 total under the Violence Against Women Act.

Hate crimes by bias

  • Religion4
  • National origin3
  • Race1
  • Gender identity1

Arrests vs disciplinary referrals

CategoryArrestsReferrals
Weapons160
Drugs64
Liquor0131

Residence-hall fires

No residence-hall fires reported.

Data quality: 2 reports were later determined unfounded across the reporting period and are excluded from the totals above.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Student-faculty ratio

Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.

IPEDS
Student-to-faculty
6.0:1
Instructional staff (full-time equivalent)
2,532

Northwestern vs Peer comparison

The peer institutions Northwestern selected for federal comparison reporting.

IPEDS
GraduationRetentionSelectivityEnrollmentAffordabilityYield
This institutionPeer median

A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.

Carnegie
SubjectNorthwestern University
95%—23,856$29,167R1 Research
Boston University
89%11.1%37,737$24,402R1 Research
Brandeis University
86%40.5%5,205$35,736R1 Research
Brown University
96%5.4%11,956$25,184R1 Research
California Institute of Technology
94%2.6%2,430$16,075R1 Research
Carnegie Mellon University
94%11.7%15,888$31,944R1 Research
Case Western Reserve University
87%36.5%12,475$41,190R1 Research
Columbia University in the City of New York
96%4.0%35,173$21,590R1 Research
Cornell University
95%8.8%26,793$28,690R1 Research
Duke University
97%5.7%17,499$29,612R1 Research
Emory University
91%10.6%15,175$22,585R1 Research
Harvard University
98%3.6%30,259$19,066R1 Research
Johns Hopkins University
94%6.4%30,210$18,809R1 Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
96%4.5%11,886$20,111R1 Research
New York University
88%9.2%56,832$37,050R1 Research
Princeton University
98%4.6%9,137$6,128R1 Research
Rice University
95%8.0%8,961$13,370R1 Research
Stanford University
92%3.6%18,625$13,807R1 Research
Tulane University of Louisiana
86%14.0%13,310$39,949R1 Research
University of Chicago
96%4.5%18,566$14,860R1 Research
University of Pennsylvania
97%5.4%29,109$28,699R1 Research
University of Rochester
85%40.1%11,946$29,278R1 Research
University of Southern California
92%9.8%46,566$32,740R1 Research
Vanderbilt University
94%5.9%13,575$15,846R1 Research
Washington University in St Louis
94%12.1%16,357$21,786R1 Research
Yale University
96%3.9%15,564$23,777R1 Research
Peer group median94%6.4%16,123$24,090

Institutions like Northwestern

Explore the federal data for institutions in Northwestern's comparison group.

IPEDS

Northwestern Institutional Research office

The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.

Office
Office of Institutional Research
Reports to Office of the Provost
Email
officeoftheprovost [at] northwestern.edu
Phone
(847) 491-5117
Address
633 Clark Street, Evanston, IL 60208

The page provides an overview of the Office of Institutional Research at Northwestern University, which is part of the Office of the Provost. It includes links to resources like the Data Book and surveys conducted by the office.

Visit IR office page
Team
4 members
  • Amit Prachand
    Associate Vice President, Information & Analytics
  • Debbie Crimmins
    Senior Director of Institutional Research
  • Paul Schatz
    Director of Institutional Research
  • Jason Ripple
    Senior Institutional Data Analyst

Common Data Set

Northwestern's own annual Common Data Set: the most detailed self-reported reference for selectivity, cost, outcomes, and the student body.

Source publications

Reports & documents (4)

Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.

Notable alumni of Northwestern (22)

A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.

  • Madeleine Wing Adler
    Academia
  • Amy Allen
    Academia
  • David J. Skorton
    Academia
  • Adi Shankar
    Arts and entertainment
  • Stephen Colbert
    Arts and entertainment (film, TV, and theatre)
  • George Stigler
    Academia
  • Zach Braff
    Arts and entertainment
  • Charlton Heston
    Arts and entertainment (film, TV, and theatre)
  • Jerry Springer
    Law
  • Johnnetta B. Cole
    Academia
  • Warren Beatty
    Arts and entertainment
  • Erwin Chemerinsky
    Academia
Showing 1–12 of 22
1 / 2

Frequently asked questions about Northwestern University

Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Northwestern.

What is the graduation rate at Northwestern University?

Northwestern University reports a 6-year graduation rate of 95% per the latest IPEDS.

How many students attend Northwestern University?

Northwestern University reports a total enrollment of 23,856 students per the latest IPEDS.

What is the average net price at Northwestern University?

The average net price at Northwestern University is $29,167 per the latest College Scorecard. Net price is the published cost of attendance minus grant aid.

What is the yield rate at Northwestern University?

Northwestern University's yield rate is 55.3%, the share of admitted students who enrolled, per the latest IPEDS.

Where is Northwestern University located?

Northwestern University is located in Evanston, Illinois 60208.

Who runs Institutional Research at Northwestern University?

Northwestern University's IR work is done by the Office of Institutional Research, which reports to Office of the Provost.

About the data on this page

Every figure comes from an official federal or public source. Here is each one and the release it is currently on.

IPEDS2025 provisional data (Fall 2025–26 release, July 28, 2026)
Enrollment, completions, graduation rates, tuition, financial aid, staffing, and finance for every U.S. institution in federal student aid programs.
National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education
College ScorecardJune 10, 2026 release (merged 2025–26 files)
Institution and field-of-study costs, graduate earnings, debt, completion, and admissions outcomes compiled from federal aid records, tax data, and IPEDS.
U.S. Department of Education
FVT/GE program performanceProvisional preview, May 18, 2026 release
Program-level debt-to-earnings and earnings-premium measures behind the FVT/GE and STATS accountability frameworks.
U.S. Department of Education
DAPIP accreditationContinuously refreshed
Accreditation status for institutions and programs, reported by recognized accrediting agencies.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education
Federal Pell Grant volumeAY 2025–26 (through Q3), through March 31, 2026
Pell Grant recipient counts, award amounts, and disbursements by institution and award year.
U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid
Federal student loan volumeAY 2025–26 (through Q3), through March 31, 2026
Federal Direct Loan recipient counts and disbursement volume by institution and award year.
U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid
Cohort Default RatesFY 2022 official rates
Institution-level federal student loan default rates, measuring borrowers who default within three years of entering repayment.
U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid
Equity in Athletics (EADA)Academic year 2024–25
Athletics participation, coaching, revenues, and expenses by sport and gender for Title IV institutions.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education
Campus Safety & SecurityData through reporting year 2024
Criminal offenses, arrests, disciplinary actions, VAWA offenses, and fire statistics reported by campus under the Clery Act.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education
Last reviewed July 2026All data sources & release dates →

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