Grants and Writing Resources for Northcentral University (now part of National University)
About 700 National University graduates earned doctoral degrees in 2026, part of the 6,780 who graduated at Frontwave Arena in May. Northcentral University is part of that university now. The two merged in fall 2022, when Northcentral's students became NU students. At graduation they can choose whether the diploma carries the NCU or the NU name.
Dissertation Support
Doctoral students start at the Doctoral Center, which gathers program templates, rubrics, IRB information and the library's Dissertation Toolbox workshops. In the five-chapter Doctoral Student Experience, used by all NU PhD programs and the DBA, DCJ and DPA, the dissertation runs through four 12-week courses, from Chapters 1 and 2 through IRB approval and data collection to the oral defense. Each committee has three NU faculty members, and the chair guides the student through the dissertation.
For a concentrated push there's the Dissertation Boot Camp, two and a half days of faculty-guided working time at NU campuses for doctoral students in one-to-one programs. Each day mixes structured writing with individual guidance on topic, methodology and committee work. Students attend at many different stages of the doctoral research process.
Help With Writing
NU's Academic Success Center coaches writing and quantitative reasoning, statistics included, along with research methods and design. Its coaching sessions come in four kinds. A recorded session takes one uploaded document and returns written and video feedback with a coaching plan within two days, while live individual and group sessions run 45 minutes, the groups capped at eight students. The fourth pairs a student with an NU graduate who serves as an Alumni Navigator.
The ASC's Proofreading Service uses proofreaders with doctoral degrees and concentrates on APA formatting, citations, references and sentence mechanics; it doesn't review content or research data. Sessions cost $20 for 30 minutes up to $100 for three hours. Students with an approved final dissertation manuscript draft can request one complimentary three-hour Sprint to the Finish review.
Research Awards
NU's student and alumni research awards recognize finished student research once it has been published or presented. The Educational Services & Assessment Support team oversees Dissertation of the Year and Poster of the Year. Poster of the Year draws on the poster session held during graduation, open to doctoral students who are eligible to graduate.
Publishing the Dissertation
NU requires doctoral candidates to publish their dissertation or applied doctoral project in ProQuest, and the library emails instructions after the defense. Earlier Northcentral work sits alongside new NU work in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses @ National University, which the library lists as holding National University and NCU student dissertations. The National University System Repository also posts research by students and faculty.
For a next step after the defense, the Advanced Research Center holds consultations on publishing and presenting and runs online scholarly mixers. Its Dissertation to Publication Toolkit takes a student from one chosen project to a revision aimed at one to three target journals or conferences. Authors keep copyright in a dissertation after ProQuest publication.
Our editors work with National University writers at the final-draft stage, from seminar papers to dissertations. See our Northcentral University (now part of National University) dissertation and thesis editing page, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.
From Our Writing Guides
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Managing Editor of Editors For Students. Links checked October 2026.
Editors For Students is an independent editorial service and is not affiliated with Northcentral University (now part of National University), and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your National University writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.