Academic Profile

Academic Profile Fall 2025

Data Source:  Northeastern Banner/Cognos ODS and Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE).  

NOTE:  There will always be slight differences in numbers on this report and various official reporting dates.  This is due to data constantly changing and updating daily during the course of the semester and the academic year.

NOTE:  The full report is available in Institutional Research, all charts have been removed from this online version due to accessibility challenges.

Highlights

• Northeastern welcomed students from 32 counties across Colorado; 24 states across the U.S.; and 17 countries around the world.

   

• Enrollment increased by 3% from Fall 2024 to Fall 2025.

   

• Five hundred fifty-eight (558) high school students attended Northeastern in 2024-2025 from 36 school districts and attempted 6,977 credits.

Student Demographics

Fall 2025 was comprised of 1,740 students which included 625 students (36%) from Logan County; 546 (31%) from Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma Counties; 422 (24%) from 32 counties throughout Colorado; 106 (6%) from 24 states, with Nebraska, Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming having the most students attending Northeastern.  NJC welcomed 41 (2%) International students from 17 countries around the world, including Greece, Israel, Poland, and Uganda.

There were 740 (44%) full-time students and 1,000 (56%) part-time students. . 

The percentage of full-time female students was 56% while male students totaled 44%; however, when comparing the number of part time female and male students, the number of male students is significantly less at 29% than females at 71%.

The significant difference in the part time numbers has been a common trend for the past five years; however, this difference has increased over the past four years. 

Nineteen percent (19%) of Northeastern students were new first time, while 29% were high school students (also known as high school concurrent).  Five percent (5%) of students transferred in from another college and the remaining 47% were continuing.  The continuing population is somewhat inflated as teachers completing re-certification courses are becoming a larger number than in the past. 

Seventy-three percent (73%) of students at Northeastern were age 30 and under; this group is known as Generation Z.  This compares to 71% for Fall 2024 and 72% for Fall 2023.  

Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Northeastern students are working towards Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, and Associate of General Studies degrees while 14% are working towards Applied Science degrees. Twelve percent (12%) are working towards certificates in a variety of subjects.

The following chart summarizes the percentage of students who are working towards transfer out degrees (Associate of Arts, Science, and General Studies), and the percentage who are working toward Career/Technical degrees.  In previous years, transfer out programs had been decreasing, but in the last two years, have increased slightly.  Career/Tech has shown both increases and decreases over the past seven years.  The number of Non-Degree Seeking and Undecided has increased; this is most likely due to the result of an increasing population of high school concurrent students along with teachers attending re-certification courses.  High School Concurrent students are often listed as undecided; and teachers are listed as non-degree seeking. 

When looking at race/ethnicity of all students at Northeastern, White non-Hispanic students account for the largest category with 71% while Students of Color account for 22%.  When looking at full time students only, White non-Hispanic students account for 61% of the student population while Students of Color account for 31%.  For Students of Color this compares to 29 and 28% for the previous two years. 

Of the 1,740 Northeastern students, 46% have identified themselves as first generation. 

This compares to 46% for the previous two years.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of those are female students.

New First Time and Transfer Students

Northeastern welcomed 329 new first-time students in Fall 2025, 92% of these students attended full time.  Of the full-time students, 48% were male, 55% were first generation, 63% were PELL eligible, and 33% were Students of Color.  These demographics have shifted since Fall 2024 with the number of males decreasing and the number of first generation and PELL students increasing.  Geographically, 22% were from Logan County, 15% were from the remaining service area, 46% were from other parts of Colorado, 11% were from out of state, and 6% were International students.

Northeastern obtained high school GPA on 201 (61%) new first-time students.   

Sixty-one percent (61%) of students who submitted a high school GPA earned a 3.0 or above while in high school.  This is a decrease from Fall 2024 of 74%.

When looking at success measures for new first-time, full-time students at Northeastern, it has been found that students who are both first generation and PELL eligible tend to fall behind their peers in first semester GPA and the percentage of credits earned.

The first chart below shows the average first semester (term) GPA of all new first-time, full-time students by demographic status. Students who are non-first generation/non-PELL eligible are succeeding at higher rates.  The purple line represents the average term GPA of non-first generation/non-PELL eligible students in Fall 2025 to show the contrast between the rates of success.  Students who were both first generation and PELL eligible had an average term GPA of just 2.20 while non-first generation/non-PELL eligible students had a term GPA of 2.90. 

The same is true when looking at the percentage of credits earned.  For Fall 2025, non-first generation/non-PELL eligible students earned 90% of the credits they attempted while students who were both first generation and PELL eligible earned just 72%.

When comparing Fall 2025 to the three previous Fall semesters, for students who are both first generation and PELL eligible, gains were made; however, in Fall 2025, there has been a decrease for both groups.  This may relate back to the higher number of first generation and PELL eligible students within this population for Fall 2025.

High School Concurrent (also known as Dual Enrollment)

For the academic year 2024-2025, Northeastern provided college coursework to 558 high school students from 36 school districts.  These students attempted 6,977 credits. 

The chart on the next page shows the percentage of Northeastern high school concurrent students who became new first-time students after graduation.  Twenty-three percent (23%) became new first-time students, which compares to nearly 34% in Fall 2024 and 25% in Fall 2023.

Sterling/Caliche had the highest percentage of high school concurrent students who become new first-time students at Northeastern after high school graduation, while Merino and Peetz also had larger percentages of high school concurrent students attending than in the previous year.

A list of high school seniors that did not attend Northeastern was sent to National Student Clearinghouse where it was found that 58% entered 4-year colleges, 12% entered 2-year colleges, and the remaining 30% did not have any college enrollment data.  Less common majors listed for this group include Actuarial Science, Civil Engineering, and Media Entertainment.  Sixty-four percent (64%) of those who were found to have college enrollment are attending a college out of state.

For Fall 2025, there were 506 high school/less than high school students attending Northeastern.  The majority were part time students; however, nearly 25% were full time students. This compares to 22% for Fall 2024. Sixty-one percent (61%) were female, 26% were Students of Color, 35% were from Logan County, 40% were from the service area, and 24% were from other parts of Colorado.  Forty-two percent (42%) were first generation. 

This group of students earned 96% of the 3,673 credits attempted, which compares with 96% for Fall 2024 as well.

The average term GPA for this group was 3.26, while the average cumulative GPA was 3.37.  This compares to term GPA of 3.15 and cumulative GPA of 3.27 for Fall 2024.

Financial Aid     

The financial aid data seen below are gathered from the IPEDS (Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System) student financial aid survey.  In 2024-2025, the total amount of grant aid awarded was $ 5,538,146 making the average amount per student $ 8,316.  The total amount of loan aid awarded was $ 1,531,282 making the average loan amount per student $ 5,462.

Overall, 666 students were awarded some form of aid in 2024-25.  Three hundred fifty-two students (352) were awarded PELL grants, and 240 students were awarded federal loans.  The chart below shows the percentages and type of aid for new full-time students.  Overall, students received more institutional aid than was received from federal or state/local aid as well as federal loans.       

Conclusion

Overall enrollment increased by 3%.  The number of high school concurrent students continues to increase along with the number of school districts served.  The number of Hispanic students continues to increase, pushing Northeastern closer to Hispanic Serving Institution status.

Potential future challenges could be the drop in high school GPA for those who submitted this data and the drop in first term GPA for students who are both first generation and PELL as well as the percentage of credits earned.  Northeastern moves into the future facing successes as well as challenges in providing a high-quality education for all.