NU Editorial Contributors
National University Editorial Contributors include writers, editors, and academic professionals who are experts in creating high-quality educational content that is timely, accurate, informative, and easy to understand. All contributors who develop content for National University follow strict guidelines to ensure they provide credible and authoritative information that is independent, free from advertiser influence, and aligns with the high standards our readers and students expect from National University.
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Articles by NU Editorial Contributors
November 26, 2025What is Criminal Justice Administration?
Criminal justice administration is a leadership- and operations-focused discipline within the broader criminal justice field, applying management, policy, and organizational principles to the agencies and institutions that make up the justice system, including law enforcement, the courts, corrections, and rehabilitation programs. As defined by federal regulation and confirmed in NU's own program materials, the field encompasses the detection, apprehension, and detention of suspects; pretrial and adjudication processes; correctional supervision and rehabilitation; and the collection and management of criminal history information.
November 25, 2025Is Getting a Certificate Worth It? What the Data Says
A certificate is worth it when the credential is directly valued by employers in your target field, closes a specific skill gap, and offers a faster and more affordable path than a degree to the outcome you need, but the value varies significantly by industry and the specific issuing organization. Certificates deliver the strongest ROI in technology (AWS, Cisco, CompTIA, Google certifications), cybersecurity, healthcare (medical assistant, phlebotomy, HVAC), and project management (PMP), fields where employers actively require or prefer named credentials and where the certificate has a direct, verifiable mapping to a job role.
November 22, 2025Best Degrees for Law Enforcement Careers
The most valuable degrees for law enforcement careers are criminal justice, criminology, psychology, sociology, computer science, and public administration, with criminal justice being the most direct pathway and computer science increasingly sought for specialized roles in cybersecurity and digital forensics. While a high school diploma remains the minimum requirement for most local and municipal departments, five of the 15 highest-paying criminal justice jobs in the United States require at least a bachelor's degree, and some federal law enforcement agencies now require at minimum a bachelor's degree for new hires.
November 20, 20255 Reasons to Earn a Doctorate Degree
A doctorate is the highest academic credential available, and the decision to pursue one is best driven by a clear understanding of what it delivers beyond the credential itself: higher earning potential, specialized professional authority, advanced transferable skills, a direct pathway to academia and research, and the opportunity to make an original, lasting contribution to a field.
November 17, 2025Ranking The Best College Degrees for Employment in 2026
A National University analysis of 74 college majors, evaluating unemployment rates, underemployment rates, and projected job growth through 2033, found that STEM and healthcare fields dominate the top rankings, with nursing placing first overall at a 1.42% unemployment rate, followed by mathematics, computer science, and engineering disciplines. STEM fields are projected to grow up to 28.4% through 2033, while business and finance degrees, particularly accounting and information systems, offer steady 6-7% job growth and low unemployment rates, with accounting placing among the top 15 at a 1.88% unemployment rate.
November 10, 2025What Are the Most Future-Proof Careers in Southern California?
Southern California's most future-proof careers are concentrated in healthcare, clean energy, biotechnology and bioscience, and emergency management, fields driven by demographic necessity, state climate mandates, and physical infrastructure demands that make them highly resistant to AI automation and economic downturns.
November 6, 2025Can Music Help You Study and Focus? [Updated 2026]
Music can help you study, but the effect is task-dependent and genre-dependent rather than universal. Research shows that background music increases task-focus states compared to silence on sustained-attention tasks, with on-task states linked to faster response times than off-task or mind-wandering states. Classical music and instrumental music have been shown in multiple studies to positively affect concentration and academic performance, while music with lyrics or complex rhythmic sequences can distract, particularly during reading and writing tasks that engage the same verbal processing channels as song lyrics.
November 4, 2025The Future of Healthcare: Integrating AI and VR in Professional Roles
The future of healthcare is shifting from reactive, hospital-centric treatment to a proactive, personalized, and digital-first model, driven by AI, genomics, continuous biometric monitoring, and decentralized care delivery that moves routine management out of clinics and into patients' homes and daily lives.
November 4, 2025Is National University Legit? Accreditation and Quality Explained
Yes, National University is a legitimate, regionally accredited private nonprofit university. NU holds accreditation from the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), the same regional accrediting body that oversees Stanford, UCLA, and other respected West Coast institutions, and has maintained continuous accreditation since 1977, meeting the same rigorous institutional standards as any regionally accredited university.
October 31, 2025Teaching Cybersecurity Ethically in a Digital Age
Teaching cybersecurity ethically means balancing technical capability with moral responsibility, digital citizenship, and legal compliance, instilling in students the understanding that consent, privacy, and responsible behavior are not constraints on security work but foundational principles of the profession.
October 28, 2025How To Pay For College: Financial Aid and Scholarship Tips
Paying for college with minimal debt requires a sequenced strategy: file the FAFSA as early as possible after it opens to secure priority federal and state funding, accept free money first (beginning with Federal Pell Grants before federal loans or work-study), and contact the financial aid office directly to request an aid adjustment if your financial situation has changed since filing.
October 21, 2025Certificate vs. Degree: Pros, Cons, and Career Outcomes
A degree provides broad, in-depth academic education taking two to four or more years, covering general electives, theory, and core subjects, and is typically required for long-term career mobility, management roles, and regulated professions such as law, medicine, healthcare, and engineering. A certificate provides fast, specialized, skills-based training completed in weeks to one to two years at lower cost, focused entirely on practical, job-ready skills for quick entry into a specific field or trade.
October 18, 2025Essential Skills and Career Paths for Today’s Cybersecurity Professionals
Cybersecurity professionals in 2026 need a layered skill set combining foundational IT knowledge with specialized competencies in the areas posing the greatest current risk. What makes 2026 distinctive is the emergence of specialized career paths that did not exist five years ago, Cloud Security Engineers, AI Security Specialists, and OT Security Analysts represent growth areas where demand dramatically exceeds supply, driven by the convergence of AI-powered threats, accelerating cloud migration, and expanded attack surfaces across critical infrastructure.
October 15, 20259 Tips to Prepare for Your Doctoral Degree Journey
Preparing for a doctoral degree requires a strategic shift from being an exceptional student to becoming an independent researcher, a transition that demands intentional structure, relationship management, and wellbeing practices from day one rather than after problems emerge.
October 9, 2025Best Brain Foods for Studying
The foods best supported by research for cognitive performance share a common nutritional profile: omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, polyphenols, B-vitamins, and complex carbohydrates that provide steady glucose to the brain. Harvard Health Publishing identifies green leafy vegetables, fatty fish, berries, walnuts, and whole grains as the most consistently evidence-backed brain foods, noting that the best brain foods overlap significantly with heart-healthy foods, as what benefits cardiovascular health also improves cerebral blood flow and reduces neuroinflammation.
October 7, 2025What Is a Clinical Social Worker? Understanding the Role
A clinical social worker is a licensed mental health professional qualified to diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders, providing psychotherapy, developing treatment plans, and connecting clients to community resources while considering the environmental, social, and economic factors that affect their wellbeing. Clinical social workers make up a significant share of the mental health workforce in the United States, more than psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric nurses combined in many practice settings.
September 30, 2025How to Become a Labor and Delivery Nurse
Labor and delivery (L&D) nurses are registered nurses who care for expectant mothers and newborns before, during, and after childbirth, monitoring fetal heart rates and maternal contractions, assisting with pain management and epidurals, coaching patients through labor, and performing initial newborn assessments including APGAR scoring. Entry into the specialty requires an ADN or BSN, an active RN license, and a standard set of certifications: Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP), and Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM), with most hospitals also preferring at least one to two years of general nursing experience before transitioning into the specialty.
September 26, 202520 Highest Paying Bachelor’s Degrees of 2026
The highest-paying bachelor's degrees are concentrated in engineering, computer science, and business, with mid-career salaries regularly reaching six figures. Outside engineering, finance, economics, and computer science consistently deliver six-figure mid-career earnings, while healthcare management and actuarial science offer strong salary growth paired with above-average job security. Bachelor's degree holders overall earned a median weekly income of $1,754 in early 2025, nearly double the $953 median for high school graduates, but salary outcomes vary significantly by major, experience, and geography, making return on investment an important consideration alongside starting pay.