Academic Success
Enrich your NCU experience with academic support services.
Resources for the Whole Student
At North Central University, our support services are how we form Spirit-led, academically confident students. You’ll find a team ready to walk with you through challenges, celebrate your wins, and connect you to resources that move you forward.
Whether you need academic coaching, accommodations, counseling, career guidance, or spiritual support, we’re here to help you stay grounded, navigate obstacles, and grow into the student you’re called to be — on campus and online, from your first semester through graduation.
What Is Academic Success?
Academic success is a combination of academic achievement, spiritual and personal formation, and professional development. That’s why our academic success resources are designed to provide more than a pathway to good grades (those are important, too). Ultimately, we want you to feel prepared to reach your short-term and long-term goals while supporting your physical and mental well-being and deepening your relationship with God and community.
Academic Success Resources and Services
Academic Support
NCU offers a variety of academic support services to help students understand their coursework and expectations, manage time and stress, and achieve the grades and skills you need to graduate and excel in your career and ministry. To learn more, contact Academic Success at academicsuccess@northcentral.edu.
Academic Coaching
Academic Coaching helps students reach their education potential. This service builds your capacity and accountability while providing new study strategies, better organization and time management skills, and general moral support.
Meet with coaches weekly one-on-one to set goals for the week and semester while developing skills to achieve those goals in the most efficient manner. Your academic coaching sessions may cover:
- Study and test-taking skills
- Time and stress management
- Accountability
- Problem solving
- Planning
- Test preparation
- Organizing papers
- Learning styles
Students can also become academic coaches for their peers! Students who have excellent academic skills and a GPA of 3.0 or higher may qualify to take on this leadership opportunity following a 4- to 6-week training program.
Tutoring
The NCU tutoring program received national certification through the College Learning and Reading Association (CLRA) in 2007. The service is offered by volunteers who have maintained a GPA of 3.0 or higher during their academic careers at North Central. Tutors are available at various times to assist you in a wide variety of subjects.
E-Tutoring
We have created a collection of tools and guides to help students seeking a better approach to learning. Accessible in person or online, this collection includes study tips and strategies, notetaking guides, helpful hints for all types of exams, and information about learning and personality styles.
Writing Support
All writers benefit from sharing their work with a reader, and a writing consultation allows you to do just that. Students are welcome to set up a writing consultation with Academic Success to get help with the following components of their writing process:
- Assistance in overcoming writer’s block
- Writing consultation and paper feedback
- Formatting and style guide assistance
- Drafting and layout
- Developing a thesis
- Revising a paper
Career Services and Resources
Our faculty and academic advisors work with students and alumni to support career development as each student identifies and pursues their career and calling. That support starts on day one and continues beyond graduation.
Our faculty are great resources in this area as they often provide information, resources, planning, and counseling during each student’s advising meeting and beyond, focusing on:
- Exploring Self
- Exploring Careers
- Evaluating Career Paths
- Experimenting through Experiential Learning
- Embarking in a Career
Learn more about Career Services for students and alumni.
Counseling Services
Short-term counseling (4-8 sessions) is available for free to all traditional students currently attending NCU. The Student Development office realizes that setting up an appointment in a close community can seem like an invasion of one’s privacy. Students can be assured that all services received through the Student Development office will be kept in strict confidence.
Common reasons to seek counseling services:
- Addiction
- Anxiety
- Childhood abuse
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Grief
- Relationship conflicts
- Sexual abuse
- Spiritual struggles
We also provide referrals to therapists off campus. If you anticipate wanting longer term counseling, we will meet with you to aid in this process. We have relationships with several therapists around the Twin Cities and are here to offer our recommendations and assistance to help you get the mental health support you need.
Academic Accessibility Services
NCU is committed to providing academic support services and optimal educational opportunities for all students, including enrolled or admitted students who have disabilities that qualify under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Our goal is to provide services and tools that help students maximize their independence and self-advocacy skills to the fullest extent possible within the standards of the university.
Requesting Reasonable Accommodations
It is important that students with disabilities make their disability known to the Student Success Center early in their college career so that we can provide appropriate support and accommodations.
In order to receive reasonable accommodations, students must provide current documentation of their disability and its impact in an academic setting from an appropriately licensed professional. Review the Documentation Guidelines for Disabilities and recommended testing centers for obtaining documentation.
Examples of accommodations include:
- Alternative testing
- Note taking assistance
- Advanced class registration
- Books in alternative format
- Class relocation
To request academic or housing accommodations, contact ADA@northcentral.edu.
Preparing for Life at NCU
Documenting disabilities and anticipating your accessibility needs when starting something new can feel daunting and vulnerable. We want you to feel prepared and have agency in your student experience, with the support and accommodations you need to succeed and live safely on campus.
Tips for Preparing for North Central University:
- Understand the importance of college and actively prepare.
- Put together a transition plan at an IEP meeting or independently.
- Closely review your program’s admissions process and plan for each step.
- Make sure that your documentation and testing is current.
- Visit campus at least once. If you are enrolling in an online program, you are still welcome to visit campus!
- Make a list of any accessibility accommodations you may need, as well as places and processes at NCU that are especially accessible to you.
- Disclose your disability early to get the resources you need.
- Activate your self-advocacy and communicate throughout your experience.
Contact Us
We’re here to help! Contact NCU by phone at 612-343-4400 or send us a message!