Despite recent damage to residence halls and an increase in floor damage between 1987 and 1988 fall semesters, the amount of floor damage over the last four years has steadily decreased.

Donald Buckner, director of student housing services, said both the number of residents billed for damage and the monetary amount of damage billed to residents for the fall 1988 semester are less than previous semesters.

James Rooney, Stevenson Towers area coordinator, said residence hall damage has declined in the past five years. Damage has increased slightly this year, but Rooney attributes the increase to an unusually small amount of damage last year. 1987 was “a real good year,” he said.

Although major repairs such as elevator damage are usually not billed to a particular floor, they are still considered student damage. An estimated $9,000 in damage to a Grant Towers North elevator on Feb. 12, caused by elevator doors catching on a floor during the elevator’s descent, is the largest amount of damage reported recently, said Ed O’Donnell, building maintenance superintendent.

Residents paid about $7,800 for residence hall floor damage last semester. Residents paid about $5,000 during the fall 1987 semester, Buckner said. Repair costs are equally divided among floor members for damage done to their floor and students are billed for floor damage at the end of each semester, he said.

The amount assessed to each floor of each residence hall varies with the amount of damage the floor has accumulated during the semester, he said.

Stacy Dolby, assistant director of student housing services, said each floor is pro-rated $250 per semester to pay for repairs caused by “normal wear and tear.” Buckner said residents are billed for damage done to their floor that is beyond $250.

Dolby said residence hall floors are not allotted money to cover floor damage, but the pro-rated allocation is used to save the NIU housing system money. “It is financially not feasable to process 50 bills for $5 a bill,” he said.

If a floor is flagrantly damaged, floor members are charged for the damage regardless of repair costs, Dolby said.

O’Donnell said although residence hall damage is declining, damage “is a pretty steady process and there’s quite a bit of it.”

Stolen exit lights and kicked-in doors, windows, window screens and partitions in bathrooms are the most frequent type of damage in residence halls, O’Donnell said.

Damage that can and cannot be assessed to an individual floor affects everyone’s housing rates, Dolby said. Repair costs are budgeted into residence hall rates and are figured into the operating costs of the residence hall system, he said.

“All of the cost of operating the residence halls comes solely out of the room and board rate,” Dolby said. The state does not help support the residence hall system, he said.

Total room and board rates vary depending on the residence hall, the number of roommates and the student’s meal plan, Buckner said.

Residents in Grant and Stevenson Towers and Gilbert Hall with one roommate and the 21-meals-a-week plan are charged $1,248 per semester, Buckner said. Double rooms with 14-meals-a-week in these halls are charged $1,228 per semester.

Room and board rates for students living in Douglas, Lincoln or Neptune Halls are $1,233 per semester. Students living in any residence hall room by themselves pay an additional $350 per semester, he said.

Margaret Phillips, area coordinator for Neptune and Gilbert Halls, said fall semester damages in these halls have totalled about the same amount as previous semesters.

Sheryl Mullis, Douglas and Lincoln Hall area coordinator, said fall semester damages saw a slight decrease from the previous semester. Most damage occurred in bathrooms and in common areas, she said.

An increase in students’ understanding that residents pay for damage and an improved attitude of responsibility toward the residence halls have been factors in the decline of damage, Mullis said.