We offer several start dates throughout the year. You can begin the program at the start of any term: August, January, or May—or during the second 8-week session within each term. For detailed registration and start dates, visit Northwestern’s academic calendar.

While we advise you to apply early, you can apply as late as a week before a new term starts. 

Yes, you may transfer up to 20% of the total credit hours required as long as the courses you’re transferring are directly equivalent to courses required in your program and have been taken within the last 7 years.

No, undergraduate credits cannot be applied toward a graduate degree.

No, GRE scores are not required for admission to the M.Ed., endorsement, or certificate programs.

To qualify for financial aid, you must be enrolled in either an M.Ed. or endorsement program. Those enrolled in an M.Ed. program must take a minimum of 4 credits per sememster to be eligible for financial aid. Those enrolled in an endorsement program must take a minimum of 6 credits per sememster to be eligible for financial aid. 

Certificate programs are not eligible for financial aid. 

Early childhood educators pursuing the Birth Through Grade Three endorsement may be eligible for a T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Scholarship. For more information or to apply, visit the T.E.A.C.H. website. 

A TEACH Grant can help you pay for your master’s degree if you teach or plan to become a teacher or school counselor in a high-need field in a low-income area. Our master’s programs are approved for the TEACH Grant. For more information or to apply, visit the TEACH website.

In addition, there may be other scholarships and grants, depending on your financial situation.

For more information, check out our tuition + financial aid page. 

Any computer purchased within the last five years should meet the hardware and software requirements necessary for taking online classes. Please see our technology recommendations for more details.

Expect to spend 9 to 18 hours per week on homework for each 3 credit course as courses include accelerated content requiring a bit more time. The amount of time you need to put into a class will vary depending on your knowldege of the content area, how quickly you write, how adept you are with technology, etc.

You will login through your student account, MyNWC, to access your online courses in Blackboard. 

Each week, you’ll be given modules to complete; modules often contain discussion board questions and reading assignments.

No, the M.Ed., endorsement, and certificate programs are asynchronous, meaning you can complete your coursework and even communicate with your instructor and classmates when it works best for you. Deadlines are set weekly, so as long as you meet your deadlines, you can take classes and do homework when it best suits you.

Communication typically occurs online via Blackboard. Communication may also happen via email, phone and video conferencing if you are working on a project with a group or if you want more direct contact with another student or your professor. Your professors will provide their email addresses and phone numbers, so you may contact them with questions.

Each week you’ll engage in online discussion around a topic provided by your professor. The discussion will occur in Blackboard, and though you will be required to participate, you may choose to respond and offer comments at whatever time of day works best for you.

Northwestern’s professors are available and easy to work with! They enjoy interacting with their students and understand the challenges of adult learners who juggle work, personal, and educational responsibilities. They’re also experts in their content area and speak from their own experiences. Feel free to reach out to them. 

Course syllabi and modules are all online. You will likely need to purchase a textbook for most courses. Books can be purchased from our online bookstore. 

At Northwestern, online courses are engaging, exciting and educational. Our online classes are rich with interaction—with your professor, with your classmates and with excellent materials. What makes it work for people like you (people with careers, families and other responsibilities) is that you choose when to immerse yourself in that interaction. The goal is to connect what you’re learning immediately into your classroom or professional roles.

Each week you work through a course module. Within the module, you’ll find everything you need to explore, discuss, collaborate and apply what you’re learning. Modules contain some or all of the following:

• Links to current research
• Videos by your professor or another expert in the field
• Online resources
• Case studies
• Projects designed to improve your classroom or school district
• Discussion forums for communication with your classmates about the content of the module

Deadlines will help you stay on track, and as long as you meet them, you can work through each module with timing that fits your schedule best—early in the morning, over lunch, after coaching, or after the kids are in bed.

EDU635, the M.Ed. capstone, is the culmination of the master’s degree program. Each student chooses a topic of interest to explore deeply through an inquiry-based research project. Most students will choose a capstone research topic connected to their “day job.” All students will write a capstone paper. Examples of inquiry-based capstone projects:

• Increasing Student Engagement in a Preschool Classroom
• Why Kindergarteners need to have Daily Social-Emotional Instruction
• Math Interventions to Improve Classroom Grades in a Secondary Math Classroom
• Promoting Positive Peer Relationships for Students with Disabilities
• Improving Preschool Number Sense Using Counting Collections and Ten Frames
• The Impact of Self-Reflection on Teacher Growth and Effectiveness

The options are limitless. The important thing is you choose something you’re really interested in, explore it deeply, and then write compellingly about it.