How to Join

How to Join NACUA

Enhance your professional career by developing and strengthening your knowledge of higher education law to make informed decisions for your institution—become a NACUA Member!

As a member, you gain access to over 5,000 attorneys to help solve problems and discuss current issues that will keep up to date on legal topics of interest. Whether you participate in meeting planning, join a committee, or participate in online discussions with your peers, a NACUA membership is essential to advancing your practice and career.

To get started, review the membership categories below and click the join link to download the corresponding membership application. All completed applications can be returned to membership@nacua.org. Payment of membership dues is not required until your application is approved.

Membership Year

September 1 – August 31

Eligibility / Review Process

Your application will be reviewed to determine if you and/or your institution meet the eligibility criteria for the category for which you are applying. Applications for associate institutional, associate individual, and emeritus membership must be approved by the Chair of the Committee on Membership and Member Services and the NACUA Board of Directors.

Contact Membership

The NACUA membership team is here to help you make the most of your member experience. Contact us at membership@nacua.org or 202.833.8390.

Institutional Membership

Eligible Institutions: Accredited, non-profit, degree-granting institutions represented by licensed attorney(s) in the United States and internationally.

Dues: For U.S. institutions, please refer to the dues matrix. All dues amounts are calculated based on information provided to the U.S. Department of Education annually. International institutional membership dues are $920.

Additional Information:

Primary representative for the institution receives all NACUA membership benefits.
Additional attorney representatives (determined by enrollment category on the dues matrix) are also entitled to all member services and receive most membership emails.
For any representatives beyond the allotted number per the dues matrix, an additional fee of $250 is assessed per individual.
Need guidance on whether an attorney should be a regular representative on an institution’s roster or an associate indiviudal member? Learn more about who can apply for these categories here.

Application

To get started on your membership application, please tell us a little bit about you and your institution.

Existing Member Forms

To make updates to your institutional roster, please use the forms below and return to membership@nacua.org.

New Primary Representative Form

New Regular Representative Form

Cancel Representative Form

Associate Institutional Membership

Eligible Organizations:

Nonprofit Higher Education Associations are defined as those with formal institutional memberships and whose members pay dues to those associations. These organizations will be considered eligible provided they are represented by counsel who meet the criteria and requirements stated on the application.
Regional or State Coordinating Boards or Systems, whose institutional members are non-profit, accredited degree-granting institutions of higher education that are existing members of NACUA. The applicant must submit at least one endorsement from current NACUA member institutions that share a formal relationship or agreement with the organization.
Museums, Libraries, University Foundations, and University Research Institutes that have a formal relationship or agreement with a Regular Member Institution (e.g., joint degree program), and that receive endorsement from that Member Institution’s primary representative. The applicant must submit at least one endorsement from current NACUA member institutions that share a formal relationship or agreement with the organization.
Athletic Conferences provided that the primary representatives of conference institutions are consulted about the application to ensure that the conference’s associate institutional membership is consistent with NACUA’s mission and principal requirements of commonality of interest. The applicant must submit at least two endorsements from current NACUA member institutions that are part of the athletic conference before the application will be considered.
This category is not open to law firms or proprietary corporations.

Dues: $1,780

Application

To get started on your membership application, please tell us a little bit about you and your institution.

Existing Member Forms

To make updates to your institutional roster, please use the forms below and return to membership@nacua.org.

New Primary Representative Form

New Regular Representative Form

Cancel Representative Form

Associate Individual Membership

Eligible Individuals:

Eligible Individuals are judged by the NACUA Board of Directors to have a commonality of interest with the member institutions of the association.

Eligible individuals must be licensed attorneys in good standing; however, the representatives may not be attorneys who regularly handle, or are regularly engaged to handle (either as in-house or outside counsel), the legal affairs of an accredited non-profit institution of higher education that is eligible to be an institutional member of the association. Learn more

This category of membership is open to attorneys who represent a member institution on a more limited basis, or who are otherwise employed by a member institution.

Dues: $1,005

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Emeritus Membership

Eligible Individuals:

Eligible Individuals must be fully retired from the practice of law and are not otherwise eligible to be either a representative of a regular institution or an associate institution, or to be an associate individual member.

To be eligible for this category of membership, one must have been a member of NACUA in good standing for a minimum of ten (10) years prior to eligibility for this category.

Individuals will not be required to maintain active licensure in any state. Individuals are not eligible for this membership category if they are, or will be, engaged on either a limited or regular basis in legal matters on behalf of colleges and universities.

Dues: $185

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