Northern Illinois University
Department of Psychology
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Our Ph.D. program offers school psychology as a field of study designed to prepare students for careers in academic and applied settings. Our Ph.D. program is accredited by the National Association of School Psychologists and the American Psychological Association (APA) and approved by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards and the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology (ASPPB/NR). Please contact the APA Commission on Accreditation with any questions.

Our Ph.D. program typically takes a total of five years (including the master’s program and internship) and involves:

• A minimum of 90 semester hours of coursework including:
  • Certification coursework
  • Departmental foundation requirements
  • Breadth requirements
  • Tool course requirements (statistics courses)
  • Doctoral course work
  • Specialization cognate courses
• Second year competency exam
• Candidacy exam
• Practica including:
  • First year practicum (75 hours)
  • Second year practicum (350 hours)
  • Doctoral-level practicum (700 hours)
• Thesis
• Dissertation
• Internship
• Development of a Portfolio

Residency Requirement

The Ph.D. program requires each student to complete at least three academic years of full-time graduate study at Northern Illinois University prior to awarding the doctoral degree. For students entering post-master's, we require each student to complete at least two academic years of full-time graduate study at Northern Illinois University.