North Central College's business degrees now carry a credential shared by fewer than 6 percent of business schools in the world.

AACSB International announced in April 2026 that the Naperville college's School of Business and Entrepreneurship earned accreditation. NCC is now the only CCIW school where student-athletes can earn a business degree from an AACSB-accredited program.

The accreditation covers seven undergraduate majors: accounting, economics, finance, human resource management, international business, management, and marketing, plus NCC's online MBA program.

AACSB reviewers specifically commended NCC's student-run Coffee Lab and its Center for Financial Literacy as areas of excellence. The Coffee Lab, which opened in 2019, operates as a direct-trade, bean-to-cup business where students apply coursework in marketing, accounting, and management to real operations. It houses a professional-grade Probat P12/2 roaster donated by Probat, Inc. of Vernon Hills.

"As they recruit interns and job candidates, employers will know that North Central College's business students and alumni are ready for success in an increasingly complex economy," said Dr. David Green, Paleka-Thomson Dean of the School of Business and Entrepreneurship.

According to the college, the accreditation applies retroactively to alumni, whose degrees now carry the AACSB-accredited designation.

NCC enrolls roughly 2,454 undergraduates on its 64-acre campus in downtown Naperville, with a 12:1 student-faculty ratio.