Every year, NIU accepts more students into the residence halls than there are rooms available. These overflow students are placed in temporary housing in the hotel at the Holmes Student Center until residence hall rooms are available.

Joyce Johnson, supervisor of guest rooms in the hotel, said this year was the shortest time in the 20 years of her employment that students were moved out of temporary housing and into the residence halls.

“They came in on move-in day [Aug. 18] and were out by Sept. 10,” Johnson said. “We start finding rooms for them after Labor Day.”

Housing administrator Patricia Venners said overbooking happens intentionally.

“We always overbook because we know that we will have ‘no shows,’” she said. “Some students do come and leave as they decide that they aren’t ready for the college transition, but most forget to cancel and just don’t come.”

Housing and Dining rents 30 to 40 rooms in advance each year at $30 per night, paid out of the housing budget. Additionally, up to 30 students can be housed in the study lounges in Lincoln and Douglas. Renting the rooms ensures the hotel does not fill up and leaves no room for students.

Michael Stang, director of residence hall operations, said temporary housing is only used at the beginning of fall semesters.

“We have enough students that will graduate, student-teach or study abroad that we usually have enough space for new students in the spring semester,” Stang said.

If the number of overbooked students exceeds the capacity of the reserved rooms in the hotel, alternate temporary housing is available.

“We try to put transfers [in the hotel] and the freshmen in the study lounges,” Venners said. “We charge the students the cheapest rate for the lounges and the hotel. We base the price on a triple room charge.”

Each room comes with its own bathroom, twin beds, a phone and a coffee maker. There also are 33 microfridges moved around according to requests. The cable TV is the same as in the residence halls. The 14th and 15th floors have DSL Internet, but the rest of the rooms do not have Internet.

Jeff Harodson, senior business administration major, lived in the hotel at the beginning of his freshman year.

“It was okay, but the one thing I didn’t have there was the social aspect of the dorms,” Harodson said. “In the residence halls, I could leave my door open and people, sometimes people I’d never met before, would come in and ask what I was up to. I was glad to get out of the hotel and into the dorms, but at the same time I’d just got settled in and I didn’t particularly want to move again right away.”

Johnson and Venners both said there have been problems with students not wanting to leave the hotel, but Venners said such issues are uncommon.

“We forewarn students that apply late that this [temporary housing assignments] may happen,” she said. “They usually understand. We give them until the following weekend to move out after the permanent assignment is made as we realize that they may need help from friends or family so they are pretty accommodating.”

Other than temporary housing, the HSC hotel frequently is rented by large groups.

“We get a lot of conferences and weddings,” Johnson said. “Summer and Spring Break are the biggest times for us.”

Hotel rooms cost $60 to $70 per night.

“In general, the hotel does a lot of campus business,” said HSC director Mitch Kielb. “NIU departments, NIU student’s families visit for events such as Family Weekend and Homecoming. We have a lot of conference business, especially in the summer. The hotel typically shows a surplus at end of the year of $45,000 to $65,000. The surplus goes back into the Holmes Student Center general fund.”