Norfolk State University

What it is like

Norfolk State is a public, urban university in Norfolk, Virginia, in the Hampton Roads region. It has 5,392 undergraduates and 643 graduate students, a mid-sized school by student count. About 80% of undergraduates are Black, and men make up about 32%, so women are roughly two out of every three undergraduates.

The campus covers 134 acres and 31 buildings, on the site of the former Memorial Park Golf Course, which the city of Norfolk sold to the school for one dollar. The school's own mission statement calls it a comprehensive urban public institution, and that is the right picture: this is a city campus, not a remote college town. The school says downtown Norfolk's shops, restaurants and museums are minutes away, and the region is home to the world's largest naval base.

The school admits about 88% of applicants. Among students who reported SAT scores, the middle half scored between 430 and 520 in reading and between 393 and 510 in math, and the typical ACT score was 18. About 73% of first-year students come back for a second year, and about 36% graduate. Roughly 65% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants. Those last figures are worth raising with an admissions counselor on your visit, because they tell you that getting in is not the hard part; finishing is.

History

Norfolk State began on September 18, 1935, in the middle of the Great Depression, as the Norfolk Unit of Virginia Union University. Eighty-five students attended the first classes. In 1942 it became an independent school called Norfolk Polytechnic College. Two years later a Virginia law made it part of Virginia State College, and in 1956 another law allowed it to award its first bachelor's degrees. In 1969 it separated from Virginia State and became fully independent as Norfolk State College. The Virginia General Assembly granted it university status in 1979, and that is when it took its present name.

Lyman Beecher Brooks, a Virginia Union graduate who took over as director in 1938, became the first president in 1969 and served until 1975. The city of Norfolk gave the college its permanent site on Corprew Avenue, and the first permanent building, Brown Hall, opened there in 1955. In 1952 the athletic teams took the name Spartans.

The history is not all smooth. In December 2013 the regional accreditor placed the university on probation for financial and governance problems, and the probation was lifted two years later. More recently the school has drawn large gifts. Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave $40 million in 2020, and on November 13, 2025, during the school's 90th anniversary, Norfolk State announced a second gift from her, $50 million and the largest in its history. The school says it will go to student scholarships, faculty research and service, athletics and strategic initiatives.

Academics

The largest bachelor's fields by degrees awarded are psychology (112), business (84), multi or interdisciplinary studies (62), and communication and journalism (61). Biology, social work and sociology follow with 56 each, then health services administration (49), kinesiology and physical education (42), nursing (32) and computer science (28). At the master's level, social work leads with 26 degrees, followed by teacher education (19) and information technology management (16). NSU has 52 programs of study in all. Wikipedia lists its schools and colleges as including the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Engineering, Science and Technology, the School of Social Work, the School of Education, the School of Business and the Honors College.

The Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work grew out of a bachelor's program started in 1960. The master's program followed in 1974 and a Ph.D. in 1995, and the bachelor's and master's programs are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

If you like science and building things, look at optical engineering. The bachelor's program began in fall 2003 and covers optical materials, photonics, optoelectronics and optical communications, across a 128-credit-hour plan of study. Wikipedia describes it as the only undergraduate optical engineering degree in Virginia. The Center for Materials Research does work on optics, nanomaterials, functional materials and semiconductors, and trains graduate students at the master's and doctoral levels. In 2023 the school reported a $499,989 National Science Foundation award for smart-window coating research led by the center's director, with two undergraduates and three high school students on the project team.

The Robert C. Nusbaum Honors College is open to high-ability students in any major. Honors classes are often taught in smaller settings, and students who finish 30 hours of honors credit, including a seminar, graduate with a special diploma carrying an honors seal. Honors scholars can also ask to live in the Midrise Honors Residential College hall.

If you have no major yet, NSU has an Interdisciplinary General Education track. You take transferable general education classes while you explore, with advising from the Spartan Success Center, and you declare a major before you complete 30 credit hours.

Students who want to serve can join Army ROTC, whose unit is called the Spartan Battalion and which the school dates to 1948, or Naval ROTC, which NSU shares with Old Dominion, Hampton, Regent and Tidewater Community College in the Hampton Roads consortium.

Campus life

New first-year students apply for housing through an online portal. For fall 2026 the application carried a $200 non-refundable deposit and was due on June 1. Students in the honors college can ask for the Midrise honors hall, and requests go first come, first served.

The Student Center is what the school calls the hub of campus. It holds student government, the clubs and organizations office, the student newspaper, intramural and recreation sports, the Spartan Game Zone, the Spartan Training Zone, the bookstore and Spartan Lanes, an eight-lane bowling alley. The school lists 101 on-campus student organizations, from honor societies and special-interest clubs to fraternities, sororities and musical groups. All nine National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations, the Divine Nine, have chapters on campus according to Wikipedia, and the school's Greek Life page lists the Divine Nine alongside other Greek-lettered groups. Student media includes The Spartan Echo, which prints twice a month and updates online daily, and the campus radio station WNSB, known as Hot 91.1, which went on the air on February 22, 1980.

On the athletics side, Norfolk State's teams are the Spartans, in green and gold, with Spiro the Spartan as the mascot. They compete in NCAA Division I, with football in the Football Championship Subdivision, and belong to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Football plays at William "Dick" Price Stadium, which holds 30,000, opened in 1997 and has had artificial turf since 2018. One game worth knowing about took place in March 2012, when the 15th-seeded Spartans beat second-seeded Missouri 86 to 84 in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Kyle O'Quinn scored 26 points with 14 rebounds, and ESPN counted it as only the fifth time a 15 seed had beaten a 2 seed.

Traditions

The Spartan Legion Marching Band has more than 250 musicians, dancers and flag members from the United States, the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas, and it wears forest green uniforms with capes and helmets. Its signature piece is called "Behold," and its head drum major carries the title Mr. Spartan, with the second drum major called Captain Soul. In 2023 the band marched in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, its first appearance there.

The alumni association of what was then the Norfolk Division of Virginia State College was formally organized on November 28, 1949, and one football game each season was set aside as homecoming. The school says more than 40,000 alumni, students, friends and community partners return each year. For 2026 the Spartan SpiritFest is scheduled for Friday, October 9, 2026, from noon to 4 p.m. outside on the Spartan Greens in front of the Student Center, with food trucks, vendors, the cheerleaders and the band.

Getting in

You apply online through the admissions office. A complete first-year application has the undergraduate application, a non-refundable $25 fee, an official high school transcript, official transcripts for any college coursework you have finished, and any extra documents the office asks for after it reads your file. NSU accepts official fee waivers from the College Board, ACT and NACAC.

First-year students can apply test optional. If you do send SAT or ACT scores, official scores are required before you enroll. The school expects 22 units of high school coursework: 4 in English, 3 in math, 3 in science, 3 in history and social sciences, 2 in health and physical education, 1 in fine or practical arts, and 6 electives. It recommends Algebra I, geometry and Algebra II. Applicants with a high school equivalency diploma are considered with a GED score of at least 530.

If you earn college credit through dual enrollment, AP or IB, the admissions office reviews it and issues a Certificate of Advanced Standing within six weeks of receiving your records. Transfer applicants need a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher from a regionally accredited college.

The school keeps its dates and deadlines on a separate page, so check that page for the current cycle before you plan around a date.

Paying for it

Start with NSU's net price calculator. Then talk to the financial aid office, which says it offers federal, state and institutional scholarships and grants, student employment, work-study and loans.

Here is what the school itself describes. A tool called Scholarship Universe matches you with awards once you have a MyNSU login. The Spartan Family Plan gives an incentive to students who have immediate family members enrolled at the university. Presidential and Provost Scholarships are administered through the financial aid office, and most honors college scholars receive them. The honors college also has its own small set of awards, including the Dean's Award, the Robert C. Nusbaum Scholarship, the Barnes and Noble Scholarship, the Norfolk 17 Honors College Scholarship and the NSU Honors Virginia Honors Scholarship. Each requires a minimum GPA of 3.5 and a current FAFSA, and for 2026 the priority deadline for fall applicants was May 1, 2026 and the deadline for spring applicants is December 1, 2026.

The scholarship page also points to outside HBCU scholarship programs, including the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and UNCF.

Visiting

Norfolk State runs an hour-long walking tour led by a student ambassador, who takes you through academic buildings and student facilities, and staff are available afterward to answer questions. Weekday tours recur, and groups of seven guests or more book a group visit. If you cannot travel yet, the school has a virtual campus tour. Book everything from the visit page linked below.

The next big event listed is the Open House on November 21, 2026, from 8:00 AM to noon, where you can tour campus, hear about academic programs and meet faculty and students.

On campus, walk the Spartan Greens in front of the Student Center, and look at William "Dick" Price Stadium. Off campus, downtown Norfolk is minutes away. If you are coming from far away, Hampton University is 13 miles from Norfolk State, Elizabeth City State University 40 miles away, Virginia State University 69 miles and Virginia Union University 82 miles, so a single trip to Virginia can include more than one campus.

Who it fits

Norfolk State suits a student who wants a big-enough public HBCU in a real city, with football games, a marching band and a homecoming that the school says brings back more than 40,000 people each year. It also suits students interested in fields where the school graduates a lot of people, such as psychology, business, communication, biology and social work, and students curious about optical engineering, which Wikipedia describes as the only undergraduate degree of its kind in Virginia.

It is a good fit for a student who wants military service in the picture, because both Army and Naval ROTC are on offer and the region is home to the world's largest naval base. It fits students who want honors-level classes and smaller settings inside a larger university, since the Nusbaum Honors College exists for that.

It may not suit a student who pictures a small college town, since the school describes itself as a comprehensive urban public institution. With about 88% admitted and about 36% graduating, the numbers say getting in is easier than finishing, so plan to use advising from the start. If you arrive without a major, the Spartan Success Center is where you get that advising.

Getting there from the West Coast

The nearest major commercial airport is Norfolk International Airport, known by the code ORF. Wikipedia places it seven miles northeast of downtown Norfolk, and the city's tourism office puts it about 15 minutes from downtown. The city's tourism office lists American, Allegiant, Delta, Southwest, Breeze, Frontier and United as the airlines that serve it. Check the airlines directly for what flies from your West Coast airport, since routes change.

Norfolk also has an Amtrak station downtown, and drivers arrive by Interstate 64 and Interstate 264.