Center for Leadership Studies Program Costs

You’ll find a significant difference between the “sticker price” of our doctoral degrees in Organizational Leadership and the “net cost.” Here is how that works:

The total cost of our 72 hour Ph.D. program is stretched over four years. Students pay by the semester so there are no lump sums or up-front fees.

A credit hour of Ph.D. tuition costs $920 (2025–26). So…72 hours x $920 per credit = $66,240 sticker price

This figure can be significantly reduced by:

  • A First Year grant of around $1,000 just for being enrolled with us.
  • A 10% matching tuition discount for non-profit employees. If the employer will commit to covering 10%, NU matches that, saving $13,248 over the life of the program.
  • Every class you transfer in saves 3 credits of tuition up to a maximum of 12 credit hours. If you can transfer in the max, that comes to a $11,040 savings.

Subtracting all these savings, the $66,240 sticker price drops to:
$40,952 over four years.

All of the savings are identical for our 60 hour Ed.D. degree, but the sticker price starts at: $55,200.

Subtracting all available discounts, the net Ed.D. cost becomes: $32,120 over three years.

You can check out our webpage for scholarship details, and for financial aid information.