[6] Two years later, National opened teaching facilities in Kearny Mesa and San Diego County.
[6] By 1979, National had purchased a 15-acre (6 ha) campus with 110,000 square feet (10,000 m2) of classroom and library space and 3,500 alumni.
[citation needed] In 1996, the headquarters of the university was moved from Mission Valley to La Jolla and online degree programs were established.
[15] In July 2022 National announced a merger with Northcentral University, an entirely online institution specializing in advanced degrees.
[16] On October 1, 2022, Mark David Milliron assumed the position of President and CEO of National University.
[20] In addition to being accredited by WSCUC, specific programs or units at the university are: National University received sanctions in 2021, threatening its regional accreditation, when a scathing report from the American Association of University Professors revealed the institution made a series of sweeping changes that included firing 50 full-time professors, six associate vice presidents, unilateral changes to the school's governance structure, consolidation of its libraries into a central library without any meaningful consultation with the faculty or library staff, closing several campuses across California, and bypassing the faculty when making decisions regarding the discontinuation of several academic programs.
It also offers master's degrees in creative writing, English, film studies, gerontology, and strategic communications.
The college is guided by a set of values: The Whole Human Ecosystem; Excellence, Unconstrained by Convention; Future Focused; and Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (S-JEDI) Advantage.
The college provides lifelong learners with credentials of value wherever they are in their educational journeys, offering degrees and certificates from associate to doctoral, both online and on-campus.
[29] The college also houses the Sanford Education Center and two of its programs: the Sanford Harmony Program which promotes respect and understanding of differences among children by expanding understanding and acceptance of gender differences at an early age to positively affect adult relationships[30] and the Sanford Institute of Philanthropy which offers a certificate in cause sales and hosts various professional development workshops in nonprofit management.
National University is geographically dispersed, with its academic and administrative centers located in San Diego, California.
From its administrative center, the university maintains its academic campuses throughout urban areas in California and Nevada.
The National University system is governed by a board of trustees and is headquartered in La Jolla, California.
[39] National University is the second-largest private, non-profit institution of higher education in California by total enrollment.