National University Reviews | GradReports (2023)

"Do not be fooled by this college’s incessant calls prior to registration. Once they have you, it will be nearly impossible to make contact with anyone who can do anything for you. Pros: The classes are organized well. Classes are relatively easy which is great when you are a single parent working full time. Not a lot of textbook fees. Cons: You can never get in touch with anyone ever. My advisor never enrolled me in my second class and when I realized this, I sent her multiple emails and calls and it wasn’t until weeks later that I was added to the class a week in (25% of the way through). I had emailed her several times about my financial aid and never got a response for months. It wasn’t until I made contact with a person who used to be a part of the fin aid Dept (who gave me a direct #- bless her!) that I got any answers and she verified that my advisor hadn’t even looked at the email I had sent weeks prior. One person to rule them all… there are no departments like a normal school. Your financial aid and your enrollment are managed by the SAME PERSON. So if you have someone who is terrible at responding to messages, good luck with getting any answers to questions. Financial aid- I completed everything I needed to complete before I was even enrolled. It wasn’t until halfway through my second class that any of my financial aid paperwork was processed. I never received an award letter telling me how much I was set to receive or how it was going to be distributed. I also never received anything in regards to how much of what I was eligible for in loans I wanted. So I was eligible for X amount, but didn’t receive the full amount because someone, somewhere, indicated that I only wanted enough FA to cover my class. So the FA lady I spoke with before adjusted everything and said it should take a week before the funds dispersed. Almost 3 weeks later I still have no answers. I spoke with her at week 2 and she said that she doesn’t know why it didn’t get processed but she was going to flag it so it would. I am still waiting. I was randomly dropped from my class for no apparent reason. I had been actively participating and had an A in the class, but without and warning it was going to happen and no email with an explanation, I have been dropped from the course. If there was some kind of glitch that could be easily reversed, I would still be anxious because of how long it takes for anyone to respond. They also just changed the recording on the phone line that if no one answers you must have the party’s extension in order to leave them a voicemail… where is the ext? It doesn’t exist. Bottom line: If you have another option, TAKE IT! I will likely be filing a formal complaint with the state about this school and if you’ve had a bad experience that hasn’t reached a resolution, I would recommend you do as well as none of these issues will ever be corrected unless they are held accountable. Every single low review has valuable insight for you!"

"Please read all reviews before attending. They will call multiple times when you first enroll and once enrolled they are no where to be found. It is very hard to get a straight concise answer from anyone. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. It is more expensive to attend here and not worth the headache or incompetence."

"Overall, I had a positive experience at the university. I’m generally a self-motivated person so that may have helped me through the process, but I believe that I will be better off because of my experience. Choosing the correct degree program was probably the most difficult part for me, but in the end I felt that a Bachelor’s in Business Administration was the best fit for me and would accelerate my career."

"Fantastic school. The program I graduated from is great. My degree definitely assisted in getting promoted. The teachers helped in keeping me motivated because I worked full time and attended classes in the evening. Overall it was a great experience."

"National University's Incompetence Destroyed My Financial Future! I cannot begin to express my disappointment and frustration with the abysmal handling of my student loan by National University. What was supposed to be a straightforward process of placing my loan in forbearance turned into a nightmarish ordeal that has left me reeling from the consequences for the past 6 years. Firstly, it is essential to note that I followed all the necessary protocols and submitted the required documentation to request forbearance. However, National University failed miserably in executing their responsibilities. Despite acknowledging my request, they inexplicably sent my account to collections, which had disastrous implications on my credit history. As a result of their negligent actions, my credit score was severely impacted. I faced constant harassment from debt collectors and struggled to secure loans or credit cards due to the tarnished reputation caused by National University's mistakes. I was left with no choice but to endure years of financial hardship and limited opportunities, all due to their incompetence. What truly infuriates me is the complete lack of accountability displayed by National University. Despite numerous attempts to rectify the situation, they consistently passed the blame onto others, refusing to take responsibility for their actions. Their disregard for the significant consequences of their errors is appalling and unprofessional. Furthermore, the sheer length of time it took to try and resolve the matter was utterly unacceptable. For an institution that claims to prioritize student welfare and success, National University's negligence has cost me precious years of my life, not to mention the countless hours spent navigating bureaucracy, making phone calls, and writing letters in a desperate attempt to repair the damage they caused. In conclusion, National University's mishandling of my student loan and subsequent degradation of my credit history has had far-reaching consequences that will haunt me for years to come. Their incompetence, lack of accountability, and disregard for my financial well-being are unforgivable. I strongly advise anyone considering enrolling at National University to think twice before entrusting them with their education and future financial stability."

"DO NOT ATTEND THIS UNIVERSITY. The administration is terrible...ALL of them. They give you the run-around while not doing their job or contacting you back to correct or change anything. They make sure during enrollment you believe you will have their help but the moment you are enrolled, you have a great chance of NEVER hearing from any of the administration. Attend at your own risk and ensure you have a lawyer on hand...because you made need it."

"If you're interested in a trash masters program full of repetitive & useless tasks, then you've come to the right place. Guaranteed to detract from your overall happiness, career development, and financial health. Expect unresponsive professors, professor turnover, time wasted on repeat questions/assignments, and a cohort of students who constantly question: "How did I get here?""

"I see many negative reviews on National University, some positive. Speaking for myself, I loved the time I spend earning my Masters Degree in Computer science. The fast pace (one course a month) keeps you on your toes, and very much involved. Most (but admittedly not all) professors were highly knowledgeable and great instructors. It was not always easy, but I did learn a lot (this from someone who thought he knew it all) met some interesting people, and definitely received a boost in my career as a result. I will certainly recommend NU to working adults, as the style may not be suitable for everyone. As for the negative reviews, I did not experience any of that, the concierge is always ready to answer questions, there is a 24 hour technical support line, the professors (at least in my experience) went out of their way to be helpful. At the end of the day, your education is what you make it, rare is the teacher who does not answer good questions, rare is the one who has gone to school and learned anything without at least a little bit of suffering (late night studying, etc)"

"RUN AWAY FROM THIS SCHOOL. DO NOT IGNORE THE REVEIWS. I have been here for a month and can't get any calls returned. The school advertises false promises. You get a lot of calls and motivated returned calls from enrollment specialist in the beginning. I think they like are on commision. Once you enroll and attend (gotcha) it is a whole new ball game. I am trying to stay positive and hope this nightmare turns around. I am not one to write reviews nor am I a complainer. This school is worth warning about. I am hoping to get a refund as my first class bill was for almost 2,000 and I cant even get a phone call returned or an email responded too. Well one lady was caring. I suppose you gotta find your way and be strong as this school is all about them Benjamins. I pray to God that this experience ends better than it started as I am trying to hang in there. The Instructor has a one size fit all motto and talk to you crazy like "look at the instructions" then gives you a low grade without explanation. Gosh, I work and go to school. During the one hour class there isn't any teaching just going over the assignment. Please God help me manuever this thing so it turns for the good. This school has a lot of staff that does absolutely nothing to support your goals other than point you in a direction."

"This school is an absolute nightmare. I honestly do not know how they made it this far. I strongly urge anyone searching for a school to look anywhere and I mean anywhere but here. The staff here are the worst staff I have ever dealt with at any establishment anywhere. Nobody answers the phone and your voicemails are never addressed. You might have an email returned several days later but by the time anything is addressed it will be far too late to make any difference. I urge you to find any other school out there where you will have a support system that will actually care about its students. The worst school I have ever attended. The most unprofessional people I’ve ever encountered. This school will add to your stress level in every way imaginable. Nothing about this school was helpful. I literally wish I never attempted this school. This school causes me so much grief and gave me nothing but hassle. Horrible horrible horrible school."

"National University Post Graduate PMHNP program is a pathetic excuse for a postgraduate program. I am not sure how or who they hire as "professors." It was literally the worse educational experience I have had. There was no learning except through books. Even the discussion forums often needed to be made more sense. It was obvious the teachers did not read them because there was blatant cut and paste. The list goes on. If you want to buy an expensive degree, you have your school"

"Prior to enrolling in the MS in Educational Counseling program, I was not told that I would have to find my own internship and practicum hours placement. Miscommunication/lack of communication from the very start. The MS in Educational Counseling program lacked a lot in terms of communication and despite being an asynchronous program, teachers still required us to attend classes despite informing them that I would be at work during those class sessions. Out of all the instructors that I had, I feel like only two really had their heart in it and were easily accessible outside of our zoom classrooms. I am now trying to transfer programs within the university, however my academic advisor was unaware of the program so I had to link them the NU webpage stating it was there only to receive a phone number to the school they are merging with and a general e-mail address to ask about the transferring process. The executive enrollment advisor contacted me asking for transcripts that the school already has, has poor professional courtesy, and calls with no warning while not leaving a voicemail to explain the nature of the call or a time to call back. Please look elsewhere for your education. If the admissions and academic advisors have such poor communication skills and interest in seeing students succeed, you can only imagine how the program instructors may feel."

"If you are thinking of doing your Master in Psychology, look elsewhere and make an informed choice. There is minimal support at best. The classes are simplistic and old school as far as information goes. It takes MUCH longer than expected and if you take off more than a year, you will need to re-apply. Very few of their programs transfer to other schools, so you are stuck finishing with them if you dont want to pay double somewhere else. I wanted to transfer just to not have to deal with the endless calls from them trying to get me to re-enroll with no one having any specific information as to what classes I would need to take to finish or when they started etc. They wanted me to complete my new application, including new transcripts from my bachelors degree which was 25 years ago, new letters of recommendation etc. THEN they would let me know which course I still had to take and what the timeline would look like. Ridiculous. Unfortunately I will need to continue my degree program here as it is basically my only option unless I want to start from scratch somewhere else. You’ve been warned."

"I have worked extremely hard in the doctoral program and I carry almost a 4.0. I went to booth camp as well. When I finally became a doctoral candidate. My chair deliberately delay my feed back so I would go into a B session. I was also given a SME from Nigeria who looks down and provides personal critical feedback. I am so disappointed in the dissertation phase. The chair and SME gets plenty of time to return assignments, however, they delay to allow the University to make more money. This is no joke. They are trying to make me go broke. I double up on classes so I could finish the program early. The SME and Chair controls everything."

"I have to admit, I had high expectations for this University when I saw the variety of programs offered. A quick, online inquiry awarded me with SIX different enrollment specialists who all returned my call within 10 minutes. I was then connected with an 'Enrollment Advisor', and that's the end. The communication is horrific and as a result, I missed out on my desired start date. I considered other programs (because that is initially what drew me to NU), but ultimately always had more questions than answers after any sort of communication with them. I do not recommend this institution for anyone! If you're looking to go back to school, whether it's online or in-person, go check out Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU)!"

"Firstly, the loans you will take out for your program is an incredible waste of time. When I first started, I had no money for books because my loan had gone to all of my courses. Considering the amount I took out I was surprised that there was nothing left over to help with books, cost of living etc (all things the financial advisors will tell you your loan goes to LIES). You eventually get a refund of some sort after taking so many courses and it fluctuates. Most of the classes I have taken so far have lacked detailed information on the topic being taught. Some teachers go into specifics. Some classes are as short as 40 minutes. That would be fine if the professor was actually detailed and not just reading from a slide."

"I was enrolled in the MS in Marketing program. The program itself was fine. It was fast-paced and I felt like not enough hands-on learning but not much you can do with 4 weeks per class. I did learn valuable information for my career. My frustration is with the school itself, not the program. I had a month that I got a lower grade than my typical on a course I took due to family illness. I wanted to retake the course, but of course it wasn't offered again for several months. That one course took me below the GPA allowed for the program, despite the fact that I had all As and High Bs in my other courses. Because I couldn't retake the course, I couldn't get my GPA above the allowed threshold in time to avoid academic suspension. I had to put taking classes on hold for 3 months because of it. I was okay with that, it's the consequences of having a low grade. I fully intended to start taking courses again after that 3 months was up. However, they then instituted a new policy (put in place 2 days before I was set to begin taking a class again) to disenroll anyone who went 35 days or more without taking courses. I've called at least once a week, sometimes more, for the last 4 months trying to get all of this resolved. I've not been able to take courses for 7 months because everyone keeps pointing fingers at other people. I cannot get a clear answer. I call one department and they refer me to another who refers me to another who refers me back to the original department I called. At this point I refuse to give any more money to this college when they are completely working against me in all aspects. It's ridiculous that they can't get their information straight and make this a streamlined process and I have to go through so much bull and still don't have what I need done."

"I enrolled in John F. Kennedy University before National University took over the Law and Psychology departments. Much of the original core faculty stayed for most of my 5 years. However, when NU took over the operations and administration portion of JFKU, everything went WAY downhill. I am a veteran and use Vocational Rehabilitation to pay for my schooling. You would think since NU was founded by a veteran, that they would be conscious of some of the obstacles veterans experience reentering school and would be helpful resolving issues as they arise. Quite the contrary, actually. No matter how early I started the enrollment process, or how clearly I communicated to the admissions department, they always managed to delay my paperwork getting to the VA nearly every single quarter. This subsequently meant that my pay would regularly come late and often times was fraught with errors and mistakes, which would again cause a delay in my pay and leave my family and myself scrambling to figure out how to make ends meet, pay rent, or put food on our plate. This was a constant issue and the only consistent measure of how this University runs as a whole. I could never, in good conscience, ever recommend them to any future clinician or student. If I had to do it all over again, I would have transferred the moment I heard NU was taking over JFKU. The school of psychology is still a quality program but is a shell of what it used to be. NU’s interventions and complete ineptness has caused JFKU to lose its APA accreditation, which makes any diploma completely worthless."

"I enrolled in the a masters program with a teaching credential. I intended to transfer from WGU as they did not have an internship agreement with California. I was to begin my program at National on July 5. On June 2 I contacted advisor to ask what courses would transfer from WGU. He said he would get back to me. He never did. I then learned that I was not intern eligible as I needed four classes. I emailed my advisor to ask when I could take these classes and how long this would take . He never replied. I sent a total of 8 emails asking pertinent questions and he did not reply to any of them. I finally spoke to someone in another department who said he was no longer working there.. His emaila and voicemail was still active however. Another enrollment advisor contacted me and said he would be taking over. I emailed him with my questions. He replied "I'll find out and get back to you." I never heard back. It was now 5 days before I was set to begin my program. I emailed financial aid to find out what, if anything, I had been awarded. I never heard back. I finally sent an email letting them know to unenroll me. No one has responded to that one either. I do not recommend anyone who has any sense of urgency to apply to this school. When you first apply and they are trying to get you enrolled they call four or five times a day.. Once they have you and you have questions--silence."

"The program was fun and challenging at times centric around working in teams. I appreciate all of the real world experiences that the professors brought to the curriculum. I cannot say the same for my peers, but before I even attended graduation, I was offered a job over six figures with a 45 percent pay raise."