Tuition Policy

Students who reside outside of certain developed countries are eligible for a 100% discount on tuition.

Fees and Tuition Policy

Tuition and fees are set by the NU Board of Regents and are subject to change.

  1. Registration Fee.  A one-time initial application fee of $25 shall apply to all new students.
  2. Tuition Fee. The tuition shall apply to all students except those identified below in Section 3. The tuition covers as many courses as the student desires to attempt in accordance with his or her academic plan of study during his or her academic term
  3. Undergraduate and Master’s Students.
    Quarterly Tuition. NationsUniversity uses a rolling enrollment, so it does not have semesters or quarters in the traditional sense. A student’s academic quarter is calculated from the date of the completed application and new quarters of study must be purchased every three months to remain active and in good standing. The quarterly tuition rate is $450.
    Initial Academic Quarter. The first quarterly tuition shall be assessed upon acceptance of a student’s application and shall be due immediately. The initial academic quarter begins from the date of acceptance of the application. The student may enroll in as many courses as he or she desires to attempt in accordance with his or her academic plan of study without additional tuition being assessed.
    Subsequent Academic Quarter(s). If a student continues his or her studies beyond the first quarter, he or she may purchase additional quarters of study at the then-current rate. The full quarterly tuition is due and must be paid prior to the beginning of the subsequent quarter(s) of study. The student may continue his active studies and enroll in as many courses as he or she desires to attempt in accordance with his or her academic plan of study during this subsequent quarter without additional tuition being assessed.
  4. Doctoral Students.
  5. Trimester Tuition. Doctoral students are charged tuition for three trimesters per year, with each trimester being four months in length. Each trimester is $600 in tuition.
  6. Academic Trimesters. The three trimesters are September-December, January-April, and May-August. Payment is due prior to the beginning of each trimester.
  7. Monthly Payment Option.  NationsUniversity offers the option of monthly payments on all tuition invoices. The student may elect to make three monthly payments, with each payment being one-third of the tuition. NationsUniversity will not charge any finance charges or interest on any balance.

Discounted Groups: The following identified groups are eligible for specific discounts on tuition.

  1. Prison students. Students incarcerated in the U.S. are eligible for a 100% discount on tuition. All fees, both required and optional, are still due at the time they are incurred, including but not limited to application fees and graduation fees. Determination of prison student discount is made by the Prison Services staff at the time of application.
  2. Students discharged from prison. Students who have been enrolled while in prison shall, upon their release, receive automatically a discount of 100% of the tuition rate in effect at the time of their release for a period of one year following release.
  3. Students in impoverished countries. Students who reside outside of certain developed countries are eligible for a 100% discount on tuition, not including the application fee, for non-doctoral programs. If a territory belonging to one of the identified impoverished countries has an internationally recognized ID code that is different from its parent country, the tuition shall not apply.
    The Board of Regents will determine the maximum number of countries which will pay tuition based on a review of international financial information. This financial information will be obtained in the following manner:

    1. The list of all countries with pertinent financial information will be obtained from the International Monetary Fund, United Nations, and/or other reliable data source.
    2. The list of countries will be sorted by Gross Domestic Product adjusted by the Purchasing Power Index, with the highest grossing countries listed first.
    3. Countries with populations of less than 100,000 will be excluded from the list due to the unreliability of information when dealing with such a small sample.
    4. Territories of identified countries will be removed from the list as they will be included with the parent countries eligibility determination.
    5. To control for and allow for economic volatility, countries that appear in a current list but which fall below the GDP-PPI threshold after recalculating a new list will remain on the new list if its GDP-PPI is within 5% of GDP-PPI of the lowest country or countries. The existing country or countries will replace the lowest country or countries on the recalculated list.
    6. The list of countries which must pay tuition shall be published for students and the general public in the university’s catalog and on the university’s website.
    7. Calculations for this discount shall be made no less than every three years.
    8. Determination of student discount for online students residing in an impoverished country is made automatically by the Student Information System at the time the student completes an application. Determination is made based on the student’s country of residence entered by the student at the time of application.
    9. Students residing in a country which previously received a discount will retain that discount for 1 year after the date the country loses its discounted status.

LIST OF TOP 35 COUNTRIES

Australia Cyprus Ireland Malta Slovenia
Austria Denmark Israel Netherlands South Korea
Bahrain Estonia Italy New Zealand Sweden
Belgium Finland Japan Norway Switzerland
Brunei France Kuwait Qatar United Arab Emirates
Canada Germany Lithuania Saudia Arabia United Kingdom
Czech Republic Iceland Luxemburg Singapore United States

Students associated with the university. Tuition discounts are available to the categories of students listed below:

  1. Children and spouses of paid staff or board members shall receive a discount of 100% of the tuition rate in effect at the time of their enrollment.
  2. Volunteer faculty members who are actively teaching at least six credit hours and performing satisfactorily on all evaluations shall receive a discount on non-doctoral programs of 100% of the tuition rate in effect at the time of their enrollment.
  3. Volunteer faculty may receive a discount on doctoral programs if space is available. Volunteer faculty teaching at least 12 credit hours of courses and performing satisfactorily on all evaluations shall receive a discount on doctoral programs of 100%. Volunteer faculty teaching less than 6 to 11 hours of credit courses shall receive a discount on doctoral programs of 50%.
  4. Students associated with the university must request this discount from the Registrar’s Office. Determination will be made by the Registrar in cooperation with the CEO, CAO, or Dean of Faculty.
  5.  Appeal of Determination. Any student may contact their advisor if the discount was not applied, and he or she feels they meet the conditions stated above. All appeals will be addressed within 30 days by the Student Services Division.

Failure to pay.  Students who are not current in their financial obligations shall not be allowed to:

  1. Enter into a degree program,
  2. Take comprehensive exams,
  3. Receive academic awards, or
  4. Be provided with official transcripts.

Loans and Scholarships.  In order to minimize administrative costs and keep tuition as low as possible, the University does not participate in, or accept funds from any state or federal financial aid program, including loans, grants or scholarships.  This paragraph does not, however, prohibit a church or other entity from paying a student’s tuition as may be agreed privately between the two parties.

Cancellation and Refunds

If at any time a student decides to cancel his or her enrollment in NationsUniversity, the notice may be conveyed in any written manner. All such communications should be recorded and kept on file to substantiate the writing of any refund checks.  The amounts to be refunded shall be as calculated below and paid within 30 days of receiving the request.

Requests for refunds must be submitted in writing prior to the end of the academic quarter for which the refund is being requested.

  1. Application Fees – Application fees are non-refundable but may be refunded if the request is made within five days following registration.
  2. Refunds of Tuition for Rolling Enrollment — After the five-day cooling off period which begins upon acceptance of the application, if the student cancels after completing at least one lesson assignment but less than 50 percent of course assignments in at least one course, the institution may retain the nonrefundable fee (registration fee) plus a percentage of any tuition assessment, which shall not exceed the following:
    1. Up to and including 10 percent of a single-course equivalency: 10 percent of the refundable fee (fee charges remaining after subtracting the nonrefundable fee already retained).
    2. Between 11 percent and 25 percent of a single-course equivalency: 25 percent of the refundable fee.
    3. Between 26 percent and 50 percent of a single-course equivalency: 50 percent of the refundable fee.
    4. After the student completes more than half of a single-course equivalency, the institution shall be entitled to retain the entire course fee.
    5. Based on NationsUniversity’s standardized grading plan, all courses contain five (5) graded elements. Therefore, a single-course equivalency is a total of five assignments from any number of courses. The curriculum benchmarks for 10%, 25%, and 50% completion are as follows.
      1. Up to and including 10 percent: 1 graded assignment.
      2. 11 percent to 25 percent: 2 graded assignments.
      3. 26 percent to 50 percent: 3 graded assignments.
  3. Refunds of Tuition for Fixed Terms – After the five-day cooling off period, which begins upon acceptance of the application, if a student cancels his or her registration, the university is entitled to retain any non-refundable fees paid and a percentage of the tuition paid based. Refunds shall be made to the student on the following fixed-term schedule:
    Student cancels during the Tuition Refunded
    1st Week 80%
    2nd Week 70%
    3rd Week 60%
    4th Week 50%
    5th Week 40%
    6th Week 30%
    7th Week 20%
    8th Week 10%
    9th Week or later 0%

  4. Records – When refunds are made, the date, check number, calculations, and amount of the refund shall be entered in the student’s record.

Note: transcript fees are non-refundable.

Sample Calculations

Non-Discounted Students

  1. A student is admitted to a rolling enrollment program at NU and pays the $25 application fee and his or her quarterly tuition of $450. The student enrolls in his or her first course of the quarter but withdraws after 10 days and the completion of one graded assignment. NU may retain the application fee of $25 and 10% of the tuition. The student is entitled to a refund of 90% of the quarterly tuition. The student will receive a check in the amount of $405 ($475 – ($25 + ($450 x 10%)) = $405)
  2. A student is admitted to NU and pays the application fee of $25 and his or her quarterly tuition of $450. The student enrolls in two courses but withdraws after 25 days and the completion of one graded assignment in each. Because the student has completed two assignments, NU may retain 25% of the tuition, and the student is entitled to a refund of 75% of the quarterly tuition of $450. The student will receive a check in the amount of $337.50 ($475- ($25 + ($450 x 25%)) = $337.50)
  3. A student is admitted to a fixed-term program at NU and pays the $25 application fee and his or her trimester tuition of $600. The student enrolls in his or her first trimester but withdraws during the sixth week of the trimester. Based on the above schedule, NU may retain the application and 70% of the tuition paid, and the student is entitled to a refund of 30% of the tuition. The student will receive a check in the amount of $180.00 ($625-($25 + ($600 x 70%)) = $180.00)
  4. A student is admitted to NU and pays the $25 application fee and his or her first quarter tuition of $450. The student then withdraws within five days of admission. Regardless of the number of assignments completed, the student is entitled to a full refund of all fees and tuition. The student will receive a check in the amount of $475.00 (($25 + $450 – 0%) = $475.00)

Discounted Students

  1. A student is admitted to any program type at NU and pays the $25 application fee. The student receives a 100% discount on his or her tuition so pays nothing. The student enrolls in his or her first course of the quarter but withdraws after 10 days and the completion of one graded assignment. NU may retain the application fee of $25 and 10% of the tuition. The student is entitled to a refund of 90% of the quarterly tuition. The student will receive a check in the amount of $0 ($25 – ($25 + ($0 x 10%)) = $0)
  2. A student is admitted to any program type at NU and pays the application fee of $25. The student receives a 100% discount on his or her tuition so pays nothing. The student enrolls in two courses but withdraws after 25 days and the completion of one graded assignment in each. Because the student has completed two assignments, NU may retain 25% of the tuition, and the student is entitled to a refund of 75% of the quarterly tuition of $450. The student will receive a check in the amount of $0 ($25- ($25 + ($0 x 25%)) = $0).
  3. A student is admitted to any program type at NU and pays the $25 application fee. The student receives a 100% discount on his or her tuition so pays nothing. The student then withdraws within five days of admission. Regardless of the number of assignments completed, the student is entitled to a full refund of all fees. The student will receive a check in the amount of $25.00 (($25 – (0 x 0%)) = $25.00)

Students Called to Active Military Service

A student of NationsUniversity who withdraws from the University as a result of being called to active duty in a military service of the United States or their State National Guard and is unable to continue his studies may, upon request, receive a full refund of tuition and fees paid.

U.S. Fee and Tuition History

Date Tuition Rate Description
January 1, 2008 $100 Annual technology fee was introduced in 2008 for U.S. students
 January 1, 2012 $250 Technology fee increased and $25 registration fee added for U.S. applicants. $25 registration applied to incarcerated, but no annual fee.
July 1, 2013 $480 Technology fee increased for U.S. students
January 1, 2016 $960 Following accreditation in July 2015, annual tuition replaced the Technology fee for U.S. non-incarcerated, and also became applicable to the Top 25 Developed Countries.
January 1, 2018 $1,440 Increase in annual tuition.
March 1, 2018 $360 Tuition was converted to a quarterly subscription model
January 1, 2019 $450 Quarterly Tuition increased. In addition, Top 25 Developed Countries was expanded to Top 35 Developed Countries.
January 2, 2021 n/a Existing Student, which was no longer applicable, was replaced with 3.e. New Students to reflect the offering of First Quarter Free as a permanent policy.
August 2024 n/a  

Tuition policy was updated to indicate that discounts other than space-available faculty discounts do not apply to doctoral programs.

 

Tuition policy was updated to reflect fixed-term program types.

 

Updated July 18, 2024