Students moving into the renovated Grant C Tower will have an experience that is much different than that of people living in the other towers in Grant.

Housing and Dining has listened to student feedback and has worked to incorporate ideas from students in order to make the tower more student friendly, said Mike Stang, executive director of Housing and Dining.

“The rooms will be bigger,” Stang said. “In essence, what we’ve done is taken three rooms and made them into two. They’ll be bigger and the built in furniture has been removed and they now have movable, stackable furniture.”

Some students think the larger rooms will be beneficial to the future residents.

Sophomore nursing major Lauren Sikes said that she thinks the larger rooms could help NIU when compared with the halls from other universities.

“I know looking at my friends’ pictures of their dorms, I am really jealous because their rooms are nice and big,” Sikes said.

Sophomore nursing major Alexa Warner agrees with Sikes and said that less people on a floor could help improve the community.

“I feel like you don’t really know all of the people on your floor anyways,” Warner said. “I feel like you would actually get closer with the people on your floor. I think the larger rooms would make for a better environment.”

In addition to the room changes, Stang said that the restrooms have been renovated as well.

“In Grant when you come out of the shower, you’re kind of right out in the middle of the bathroom,” Stang said. “I think students will have a little more privacy.”

The fewer number of students, in addition to the remodeling, should help remove some of the congestion and improve the feel of space and privacy in the rest rooms, Stang said.

Another change that is being instituted is card key access. Housing and Dining is currently leaning towards a proximity key as opposed to a swipe key, Stang said.

In addition to the card key, students will have to enter a pin number. This is to ensure that no one could steal a card and then break into a person’s room, Stang said.

Warner said that she really likes the idea of a card key.

“It’s making things a lot better and moving towards the future,” Warner said. “It would really make things easier and people couldn’t break in.”

Sikes said that she likes the idea but was worried about potential problems.

“That’s one more thing that could go wrong,” Sikes said. “If it malfunctions how badly could it go wrong? Could you not get into your room? At least a key and a lock is pretty fool proof.”

Housing and Dining is exploring changes to the other areas of Grant, including the lobby and dining facilities, however those plans have not been finalized, Stang said.

The next phase of the construction plan will be to renovate the A Tower next year.

Students will be able to live in the renovated C tower beginning in the fall 2011 semester. They can register during either the current room sign up period or the period beginning in the spring. Rooms in the C Tower will cost the same as a room with the equivalent set up in Stevenson.