University Apartments offers units for non-traditional NIU students

By Daralyn Richardson

Students who are married or are single parents may have the option to live at University Apartments, located north of Lincoln Hall.

University Apartments, 501 N. Annie Glidden Road, houses 80 adults and a few children.

To be eligible to live there, at least one tenant must be a full-time NIU student who will live in the apartment for the entire academic year, said David Dunlap, coordinator of marketing and public relations. Graduate students with assistantships also are eligible, he said.

The maximum occupancy of a unit is two adults and two dependent children. The student tenant may share the unit with a spouse, partner or roommate.

Michelle Dare, a junior earth science/environmental geoscience education major, said she enjoys living at University Apartments.

“My son and I love it here. The sense of community is strong, and our neighbors are terrific,” Dare said.

Dare said since she and her son have lived at University Apartments, they have made wonderful friends from around the world.

“For the most part, the families here stick very close together, and the children play very well together,” she said. “The cultural barriers really melt away in this community.”

Minh Nguyen is the manager of University Apartments. Dare said she thinks Nguyen does an amazing job.

“Our manager does a knockout job keeping this community together,” Dare said. “She gets us involved with the apartment committee, and we have family/community-oriented parties that are loads of fun. The single grad students seem to appreciate these parties, as many of them are away from family, especially during the holidays.”