Students living in the residence halls are more likely to succeed in the classroom and return to the university, according to research done by NIU Housing and Dining.

Even with those numbers, the residence halls were able to retain only 37 percent of residents from fall 2007 to fall 2008. That number did increase by 2 percent from the 2006 to 2007 data.

Dave LaBanc, director of residential facilities and operations, credits the increase to enhancements made to the residence hall sign-up program.

“For last year, we changed several things about the program,” LaBanc said. “We created a special meal plan under our lowest plan for students who leave campus for academic reasons, such as student teaching. We also created a program where a student in a double could buy out the other bed and turn a double room into a single.”

Housing and Dining also created a system in which a group of friends could sign up for the same floor together to keep a continuing sense of community. Previously, residents were only allowed to request a roommate.

LaBanc feels students living on campus receive more benefits than those living off campus.

“Residence hall residents have their bathrooms and lounge areas cleaned daily. They are only responsible for cleaning what is essentially their bedroom,” LaBanc said. “We also provide all maintenance in a timely manner, something private landlords might not be able to do as quickly.”

To improve on last year’s retention numbers, Housing and Dining rolled out some new improvements. Last year, several more special lifestyle floors were offered than in previous years.

“We overestimated the response we would get for the lifestyle floors last year,” LaBanc said. “Since many residents were stuck on a floor they didn’t want, we decided to roll back the number available next year.”

One new feature that has already sold out is a two-person suite. It uses the same option as a double room single as both residents would have the option to buy out the other bed in their room.

Despite these features, some students will still move off campus at the earliest opportunity.

“I can’t stand sharing such a big bathroom like that,” said junior marketing major Mary Aurich. “I like a sense of community, but the convenience of having my own place is too much to pass up.”