Nicholls State University

NSU is an online school that hosts fully online degrees. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that 38% of the schools' undergraduate classes engage in some form of online courses, while 15% study exclusively online. 

Many consider NSU a good school based on its affordability. According to College Scorecard, the average annual cost of tuition is $13,466, which is around $5,400 below the midpoint for other four-year universities. 

NSU's accreditation status is another way to determine if it's a good school. This means that a third-party education agency has evaluated its programs and faculty based on the quality standards of the U.S. Department of Education. NSU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate, baccalaureate, master’s and doctorate degrees, and certificates. 

OnlineU only includes accredited online colleges and universities on its site. 

NSU is best known as the first and only university located in the Bayou region. The school has served local students on campus in Thibodaux, Louisiana since 1948. Today, remote students can prepare for work in the region's energy industry through NSU's online Associate of Science in Safety Technology and Associate of Petroleum Services.

The highest earning degrees at NSU are the aforementioned online Associate of Science in Safety Technology and online Associate of Petroleum Services. Graduates of either program can expect to earn a median annual salary of approximately $73,000, according to College Scorecard. Another high earning online degree is the Bachelor of Science in Nursing with an expected salary of around $64,000.

OnlineU's Salary Score tool can also help students estimate the earnings from a school. This proprietary metric compares alumni salaries from different schools using the same degree. On a scale of 1 to 100, NSU earns a 24 for bachelor's degrees and 21 for master's degrees.  

First-year students attending college for the first time are required to have a 2.0 GPA in order to be considered for enrollment at NSU. College entrance exams are also required, with students needing a 21 ACT composite score or 1060 SAT composite score. However, those with a GPA of 2.35 do not need to meet the test score requirements. 

NSU is not considered hard to get into based on its high acceptance rate of 97%. Additionally, the 2.0 GPA score needed for enrollment is below the overall grade point average of high school graduates reported by The Nation's Report Card in 2019.

All first-year students must complete the following steps to apply to college online at NSU:

• Finish NSU's online application.
• Pay the $20 application fee. 
• Submit ACT or SAT scores. 
• Submit high school and/or college transcripts.