Northeastern Illinois University

I am a UIC student taking physics 1 and 2 over the summer. So far, the buildings and accommodations are very nice. The only complaint I have is that I can’t understand my professor! Who wants a foreign professor that doesn’t speak English well? Come on.

Yikes — all I can say is I’m glad I transferred. I almost feel like the entire university is incompetent — lousy professors, poor courses and a horribly run ‘university’ with no communication from anyone. When you express your concern all you get is blank faced ‘who cares’ stares and replies. It’s utterly pathetic this place is still around. Chicago has plenty of great university’s — choose one that actually cares about its students!

Great school in the city. Most of the professors here care about your future and are there to help. The school over the years has gone a bit down hill. A lot of the areas that student have to do their homework in are quite dirty. The sidewalks have major cracks in them. In the winter the parking lot seems to be never showered. I think that the school needs to improve the upkeep of the area before starting a new project, like the housing on campus.

Basically a slightly more expensive community college. Very chill and overall a good starting ground to whatever you want to do. The teachers are mostly awesome also

NEIU financial aid office is a f’ing JOKE. Thinking about going to school here? Think again. Go somewhere else. I want to transfer!!! Told my counselor, he said since I was almost finished it wouldn’t be worth it. Know what? The stress the FA office puts me through every semester is not worth it. There is never any parking. Now they’re adding dorms so they are constructing a new structure IN A PARKING LOT!!! Why would you put a dorm in a parking lot??? This University is run by the dumbest people in the world. Do not waste your money, go to UIC, Loyola, DePaul… anywhere but here!!!

If you want an affordable and very easy college this school is great. If you really want to learn at an advanced level, network with professionals, looking for a great alumni network, target school, etc. this is not the school for you.
If I could go back I would have gone to a tougher school but for the money NEIU was OK. I honestly learned more from running my own business and doing some internships then I did the entire time in classes at this school. The material really feels like high school level rather than university.
Some professors are great and some are not. Check ratemyproffesor to get the good ones. Many even have a PhD and are experts in their fields, while others really have no idea what they are talking about. I even found several errors in one of my professors work which is ridiculous at a university level.
Some things I did like about this school was the class sizes are very small. Never had more then 25 students in a class. Also the school is very diverse. Lots of parking on street.
One thing I will add is they give course credit for internships but you must tell the department before you start an internship. This can save you time and money!

I needed accounting credits to sit for the CPA so I took them here. The only good thing is about this school is cost. Classes are cheap, so if you need a degree for the cheapest price, this would be your best bet. If you have options, take community college classes elsewhere and take the $ you save there for the first two years to transfer to a more accredited university.
Everything is a mess at this school. First, school is almost completely shut down on the weekends. Limited hours on the weekend although the library had the most flexible hours on Saturday and Sunday. The campus has a full forced rent a cop situation going on. I’m not entirely sure why they have 15 – 20 cops patrolling on the weekends when the campus has minimal students occupying it during that time.
Class selection is limited. Professors were not great, it seemed learning was best done by yourself. Their offices are a disaster. If you needed something done, you need to be proactive to ensure that the people in the offices are doing their jobs especially the financial aid office. The accounting department was inconsistent, the information that was updated on their website didn’t reflect was representatives told you.

This university was ok, until my professors didn’t believe me when I told them I had a learning disability, I brought a letter from the Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, the professors still didn’t take it. I had no choice than to take two incompletes. I missed a few classes. why? because I felt intimidated by these professors and it made me not want to go to class. :(other than the Universities cleanliness its perfect, some staff members are rude, their not helpful enough when it comes to education. the financial aid department I wrote an appeals letter for my loan, was honest as I was taught to be, and I was still denied was not given a reason. I’ve been at NEIU for two semesters, and I’m thinking of transferring. to another university, I chose this university because I live 5 minutes away, I can walk there.

This summer marks 1 year since I began working on my Masters degree at Northeastern. I transferred in from Concordia — River Forest. NEIU has a wonderful program for the field I’m studying at a fraction of the cost of Concordia, plus they are CACREP accredited (unlike Concordia).
I entered the program at a time when my life had just spiraled into complete and utter chaos, which has continued throughout my time at NEIU. This made academics especially difficult at times, however, I always manage to get by.
My first semester required getting acquainted with the campus, figuring out what was required of me from my department, and fighting to get unaccredited credits transferred. Anytime I needed questions answered, I would get bounced around to a different department. I have attended 4 different institutions during my academic journey, and they all seem consistently horrible with communication and getting you answers. Northeastern is no exception.
Like any other University, there are great professors and there are not-​so-​great professors. If you have options for who to take, make sure you do your research; ask your peers who they would recommend and look online for information about professors to help you decide who you will get the best learning experience from.
I cannot speak for all majors, but the education program here is well known. Overall, I’m grateful for getting a chance to continue my higher learning at this institution, but they definitely do need to work out some major kinks.

Ok I found out from the neiu supervisor that I was accepted into the university about a month ago! He even told me they mailed a welcome letter! I checked the mail everyday but no welcome letter or nothing from northeastern Illinois university! Finally I got a acceptance letter about a week later! I see the post mark on the letter it was just mailed out a few days ago! So when I get into town! I make a appointment to see the advisor to pick classes! I pick classes ! But I can’t register till I get proof of how im gonna pay for classes! I go to financial aid office to check out the loans! I called the financial aid office before I came to town! They said I’m not eligible for financial aid but I’m eligible for loans! They said I’ve to fill out a form on the internet on my neiuport first ! Then we go from there! It will take 5 – 7 days! Then 2 weeks! I came to town I told them that in person! The lady at the front desk said she doesn’t understand why I didn’t get grants! She said my income is low! She let me speak to advisor! I told the advisor what she said! The advisor type in some stuff in my file ! She said for to check my account everyday between Tuesday and Thursday! She said the awards will post on my account! I waited 3 weeks! Nothing posted on account! I had to call the financial aid office! They said there award money on my account! They can’t tell what I’m getting! I’ve to look myself! I look at my account it said my award letters is grant money and work study! Thanks God finally financial aid gave me my award money! Another thing is these work study jobs are very very very very very very very hard to get hired at ! All or most of the employers are very picky! You gotta have certain skills! The student employment office even lied to me ! This past Monday I asked about the America reads work study program! The skinny lady with blonde hair told me about the program! She said that they have a list of schools they work with ! But if I don’t like any of the schools on the list! I can name some schools that I want to work at! She said they will contact those schools ! They have to be willing to sign a contract with neiu! Today, I spoke with Maria she said that I’ve to choose from the list of schools she gave me! Now, I’m very confused cause the first lady and Maria story don’t add up ! They talk different stories! So ready to graduate from this place! I remember in 2001 – 2002 they was a much better organized school! They seem like they cared more back then! Now this school a nightmare worse than Freddie Krueger! I’m sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooofed up with this @#$/ school!!!

I’m a pretty huge fan of Northeastern for three primary reasons:
1) Cost — I attended community college for two years, paying out of pocket for the nonsense gen ed classes they force you to take. Northeastern wasn’t that cheap, but I still graduated with only a small fraction of the student loan debt of many of my friends.
2) The Philosophy Department and the History Department — If you are planning to major in either of these subjects, Northeastern has some of the most challenging, interesting and engaging professors I have ever encountered. In addition to being excellent instructors, the professors genuinely care about their students. I found that if I reached out, almost all of the Northeastern professors were willing to go the extra mile to help me.
3) Location — I have lived in Chicago my entire life and I know that our public transportation is sub par. I loved being able to drive my car straight from work to school. I never paid for the student parking lot and if you allow enough time, there is generally street parking available.
Some less pleasant things about the school:
1) The financial aid office is a mess. It is understaffed and they will not help you very much. In fact, my financial aid adviser LITERALLY did not speak English. I would advise speaking to current college students, filling out a FAFSA and then sorting out details with this disorganized menagerie.
2) Some classes are only offered in either Fall or Spring. That can be problematic when you are trying to graduate.

Basically a poorly run community college with below average programs and horrible staff. Full disclosure, I have a solid frame of reference. I attended a community college many years ago, transferred to a major state university for my BA, then attended law school at yet another major university. I hold 2 advanced degrees from 2 different schools.
I came to NEIU for a few classes that I felt would be helpful in my practice. I did not really want another degree. I held a 4.0 in all 4 classes. The courses were simple and the program director was a petty woman who thought adding busy work was equivalent to increasing the challenge. She had almost no idea what the real world is like. Every class was simply a repeat of the same exact content as the last. Nothing new was added. The faculty seemed to have a really hard time engaging students in meaningful projects or discussions.
I recall assignments being duplicated almost every time. Different page number maybe, but same exact stuff. If I wasn’t such an honest person, I could have easily submitted the same papers every semester and only changed 3 – 4 sentences. Quantity of reading does not equal quality. I felt like I was in community college. And fellow students were frankly low performers.
Worst part is the staff. I owed a couple thousand for my last semester’s tuition and set up a monthly payment arrangement. They repeatedly turned it over to collections despite me making timely payments. The accounts receivable lady speaks almost no English and is rude and incapable of communicating clearly. The AR office is just awful. Basically they violate fair debt collection laws and treat students like a burden to work with. Had I known they would violate agreements and be so dishonest, I would have paid the $ 2k in lump sum, but of course we all have a budget.
End of the day, if I were 18 and looking for a a cheap degree and knew it didn’t matter if I learned, I may pick NEIU. It served a purpose for me, but ultimately the college is the worst I’ve ever attended. I would recommend just about any other school if you have the option. Just plain out piss poor.

This school has been getting a lot of hate lately for a multitude of reasons. Some of them I agree with, most of them I don’t. This is a good, no-​frills, liberal arts school, with very reasonable rates. Take advantage of NEIU while it’s still affordable.

My experience here was decent, but nothing to brag about.
Highlights for me
Wide variety of psychology programs
Cost efficient tuition
Good teachers for the most part (If you look them up)
Big parking lot
Delayed payment for tuition (You don’t need upfront cash)
Bad experiences
Really poor admission experiences. (They can be pretty slow to processing requests, which sometimes can effect your ability to register for class.)
Poor explanation of school services. (I was pretty much thrown into the university without much clue of what I was doing, I had to seek out all of my help.)
Not a wide variety of electives. (I had a lot of elective space, and I could hardly find many things that interested me, so I would end up taking random classes that were unhelpful just for the credits.)
It’s not a top dollar institution, nor is it a piece of trash. If the location is convenient and the price is right, go for it. For certain subjects, such as psychology, the school does offer greater opportunities than other majors, so make sure you keep in mind what the specialties are before applying.
I don’t regret going to Northeastern, but they could have done more to provide a better experience.

Its hard to sum up 6 years of attending this university into a review. Especially since ill be graduating in December.
— To get the cons outta the way — Financial Aid is pretty bad (i was told that id be covered for classes, then later told they won’t (i wish i saved that conversation to use on them), and theres usual blatant corruption once in a while in this university.
Thats it. Everything else about this university has been very good to me.
— Great professors (some can be boring but they do their job!), great and welcoming atmosphere, courses can either be very easy to very difficult, theres many activities going on always with clubs and the newly improved Northeastern Programming Board, always places to socialize, always ways to get involved with the school, good community, good amount of things to do on campus from going to the gym to reading a book in the library to enjoying games. The technology on campus is pretty updated and the campus has a sleek look.
In terms of course content, I feel this campus has prepared me for the work life. With good connections met on campus, good grades, etc. I have been able to find a comfortable career that can prepare me for the future. In terms of cost, its actually pretty good compared to other universities. You become a part of something big here. You get an amazing deal and you can still get a good education. I did, and I know others can too.

My original review was 5-​star in 2008; since that time NEIU has shrunk down, way down.
They have fewer teachers and more administrators. The classes are fewer and not adaptable to part-​time or working students. Student options and participation isn’t being encouraged.
Northeastern’s focus has changed from education to buildings. Pouring concrete and using brick-​and-​mortar to look likes it’s expanding. Northeastern need to return it’s focus to education — which is what a public university should be for.

The graduating college and place of employment for my wife. This is a great university to be a third world school, and has more than most major colleges. Nice campus, great classes, good teachers, well based etchnic groups of all kinds there and a peaceful secure atmosphere. Recommeded school for chicago residents looking for a good college without going out of town or state

Love this school so much I got my BA in Psychology from here and now I’m working on my MA in Gerontology.
Love the professors and curriculum. The school also has this relaxed college feel without the college mess. Party school it is not. It’s for those who really do value education.
It’s a commuter school for sure and but once you get here it feels like home.
My favorite place is the lounge where I can sleep or work on my laptop. I also prefer the downstairs computer lab to the one on the second floor in LWH.
In short, if you’re looking for a no nonsense education in a diverse setting, NEIU is just the place for you.

I’ve got a love/​hate relationship with Northeastern. The teaching staff — across the board, from gen ed classes to my higher level major classes — has been nothing short of amazing. Challenging, thought provoking and supportive. I simply can’t rave about them enough to do them justice. There’s a staggering amount of wisdom there, and they’re sharing it with you!
The administration and support staff is another story all together. Financial aid, transcripts, academic advising — good luck getting the help you need from the right people. Prepare to be frustrated and angry. Prepare to wait. Expect to be given wrong information. Whenever people stepped up to actually help or solve problems, they weren’t the people responsible for solving them — I.E. not your own academic adviser, not your own financial aid adviser, or someone who’s not even IN the dept in question. As if making it through college weren’t hard enough academically, they seem destined to make it near impossible bureaucratically.

I recently went here for a concert by the Chicago Clarinet Ensemble. Why yes, I am a geek! But the concert was great. I’ve never seen so many clarinets in one space.
But the point of this review is the Auditorium, in Building E. What a gem. Great space, no bad seats and BEAUTIFUL sound. So well done, and a wonderful place to see a concert.