Special Education at Northern Illinois University

If you are interested in studying special education, you may want to check out the program at Northern Illinois University. The following information will help you decide if it is a good fit for you.

NIU is located in Dekalb, Illinois and has a total student population of 16,769. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 54 students received a bachelor's degree in special ed from NIU.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Special Education section at the bottom of this page.

NIU Special Education Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Special Ed
• Master’s Degree in Special Ed

NIU Special Education Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks special ed programs across the country. The following shows how NIU performed in these rankings.

Note: Although rankings can help you see some information about a school, it's not a good idea to depend on them alone. Be sure to check out other things about the school before making your decision to attend.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The special ed major at NIU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Special Education. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Popular Special Education Master’s Degree Schools	72
Best Special Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	80
	85
Best Special Education Master’s Degree Schools	145
Best Special Education Schools	183
	183
	199
Most Focused Special Education Schools	212

In 2021, 60 students received their master’s degree in special ed from NIU. This makes it the #73 most popular school for special ed master’s degree candidates in the country.

Earnings of NIU Special Ed Graduates

The median salary of special ed students who receive their bachelor's degree at NIU is $40,969. This is 6% higher than $38,748, which is the national average for all special ed bachelor's degree recipients.

Special Ed Student Demographics at NIU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the special ed majors at Northern Illinois University.

NIU Special Education Bachelor’s Program

The special ed program at NIU awarded 54 bachelor's degrees in 2020-2021. About 7% of these degrees went to men with the other 93% going to women.

About 74% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in special ed at NIU are white. This is above average for this degree on the nationwide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a bachelor's in special ed.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	1
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	13
White	40
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

NIU Special Education Master’s Program

Of the 60 students who graduated with a master’s in special ed from NIU in 2021, 13% were men and 87% were women.

Of the students who received a special ed master's degree from NIU, 73% were white. This is above average for this degree on the natiowide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a master's in special ed.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	5
Black or African American	4
Hispanic or Latino	5
White	44
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

NIU also has a doctoral program available in special ed. In 2021, 0 student graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Special Education

If you plan to be a special ed major, you may want to focus your studies on one of the following concentrations. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from Northern Illinois University. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
General Special Education	114

Related Majors

• Educational Assessment
• General Education
• Curriculum & Instruction
• Student Counseling
• Instructional Media Design

Careers That Special Ed Grads May Go Into

A degree in special ed can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for IL, the home state for Northern Illinois University.

Occupation	Jobs in IL	Average Salary in IL
Kindergarten or Elementary School Special Education Teachers	9,670	$63,740
Special Education Professors	8,440	$69,840
Middle School Special Education Teachers	3,420	$63,330
Interpreters and Translators	1,970	$46,320
Special Education Preschool Teachers	960	$57,280

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Andy McMurray under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.