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Academic Policies

Degree Requirements

In addition to the university-wide requirements, the College of Professional Studies and Advancement requires the following: 

  • Graduate and doctoral students must fulfill all degree requirements within 10 years from the beginning of the first course taken at NLU in the specific program to which they are admitted
Specific graduate programs may have additional degree requirements. See programs for details. 

Transfer between Graduate Programs

Please see Enrollment and Registration Policies for more information.

Transfer of Credit Completed at another Institution

In addition to the university-wide requirements, the following criteria apply to non-institutional doctoral transfer credit in the College of Professional Studies and Advancement:

  • A maximum of nine semester hours may be transferred
    • The following exceptions apply:
      • Those who are pursuing the Ed.D. Counselor Education and Supervision degree may transfer a maximum of 12 semester hours of post-master’s degree coursework. The Program Director must approve any additional transfer credit hours.
      • Those who are pursuing the Psy.D. Clinical Psychology degree may transfer a maximum of 30 semester hours of graduate level degree coursework.
  • Credit earned more than six calendar years before graduate admission is not transferable
  • A “Pass” grade for a completed pass/fail graduate course is acceptable. A letter is required from the Registrar of the institution where the course was taken verifying that the grade is equivalent to at least a "B" (3.0 on a scale of 4.0)
  • Students may transfer credit hours once admitted into a program

Specific graduate programs may have additional transfer credit requirements. See programs for details.

Exceptions to these rules may be appealed to the Admissions and Academic Standards Council of the CPSA. Petitions must be presented to the Council by the student's advisor. 

Note: NLU credit completed under a different program is subject to Application of Academic Credit Toward Multiple Programs Policy.

Required Course Waiver

Students may request a waiver for one or more required courses if previous academic work or experience indicates a high degree of competency in the content of the course. The waiver does not grant equivalent credit toward the degree; it permits the student to substitute an appropriate elective course for the waived course. The student and advisor must complete a Student Adjustment Form and submit it with appropriate documentation to the Dean or Dean’s designee. If approved, the waiver is entered in the degree audit system.

Dissertation Completion


In addition to completing all required coursework, dissertation defense, and other program requirements, candidates for doctoral degrees of the College of Professional Studies and Advancement (CPSA) are required to electronically submit their dissertations to Library and Learning Support (LLS) via Digital Commons @ NLU (http://digitalcommons.nl.edu) for archiving and accessibility. 

  • Candidates apply for their diploma during their final term at NLU in accordance with quarterly degree finalization deadlines posted in the official NLU calendar. 
  • Diploma application alerts the Registrar’s office to conduct a degree audit to ensure that all required coursework has been completed and all grades have been entered on the candidate’s transcript. 
  • The candidate must successfully defend the dissertation. Successful defense of the dissertation is documented by a completed dissertation signature page transmitted to the respective Office of the Dean by the designated College officer. 
  • The candidate’s degree will be conferred at the end of the term in which the defense occurs upon receipt of the completed dissertation signature page by the Registrar. 
  • The candidate submits an electronic copy of their dissertation to Library and Learning support via Digital Commons @ NLU (Instructions are found here: http://libguides.nl.edu/dc/dissertations). 
  • Upon publication of the dissertation on Digital Commons @ NLU, the Registrar will release the diploma and official transcript to the graduate. 
  • Students wishing to participate in June commencement hooding ceremonies must have their final hearing on or before April 30th . Students who have their hearing after the April 30th deadline will be invited to participate in the June commencement ceremony the following year.