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 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.
September 23, 2025Top 5 Reasons Adult Learners Benefit From Finishing Their Degree
Finishing a degree as an adult learner delivers six distinct advantages: higher lifetime earning potential and salary negotiation leverage, layoff protection during industry consolidations and technological disruptions, access to leadership and executive roles that require formal credentials, career pivot credibility that allows employers to confidently hire into a new field, specialized professional networking with faculty and peers that generates long-term mentorship and collaboration, and the personal confidence and role-modeling effect of completing what you started.
September 12, 2025What Is Industrial-Organizational Psychology?
Industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology is the scientific application of psychological research and methods to workplace issues, studying productivity, employee selection and testing, organizational dynamics, and work-life quality to help organizations and the people within them function more effectively. The field has two distinct but complementary sides: the industrial side focuses on personnel functions such as hiring, assessment, training, and performance evaluation, while the organizational side examines how culture, leadership, motivation, and structure influence employee behavior and organizational outcomes.
September 8, 2025How to Become a Marriage Counselor: A Step-by-Step Guide
Becoming a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) is a multi-stage process that typically takes seven to nine years: four years for a bachelor's degree, two to three years for a master's degree in marriage and family therapy (MFT) or a closely related field, and one to two years of post-degree supervised clinical experience. In California, where NU's programs are primarily based, the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) oversees licensure, requiring candidates to register as an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT), complete 3,000 hours of supervised experience, and pass both the LMFT Law and Ethics Exam and the LMFT Clinical Exam before receiving an independent license.
September 5, 2025Completing Your College Application as an Adult Learner in 10 Steps
Completing a college application as an adult learner is a different process than applying directly from high school, the evaluation centers on professional maturity, life experience, and readiness for academic work rather than standardized test scores, which most institutions waive for applicants aged 25 and older.