Freshman computer science major Kwadwo Aning moved to NIU last Thursday, but instead of moving into a residence hall, he moved into the Holmes Student Center Hotel.

For the last few years, some new students have been assigned temporary homes such as the Holmes Student Center Hotel, the Lincoln and Douglas Hall lounges and University Plaza.

As of Friday, about 130 students were in temporary housing.

Aning thinks the hotel is the best form of temporary housing, but there are a few drawbacks.

“I do not have a fridge and a microwave like they promised I would have,” he said. “Also, my floor is all men. I would have preferred a co-ed floor, but the hotel is nice for a temporary place to stay.”

Other incoming freshmen had few objections to living in the hotel. In fact, some prefer to live in the hotel rather than the residence halls.

Freshman undecided major Phillip Moore thinks the hotel is more accommodating than the residence halls.

“My application was not on time and I was afraid of where I was going to end up,” Moore said. “I am pleased with the hotel. My roommate and I have our own bathroom, and our room is huge.”

Like Moore and Aning, the vast majority of incoming freshmen and transfer students are assigned to temporary housing because of late housing applications.

Michael Coakley, executive director of Student Housing and Dining Services, said the problem surfaces from overbooking students in permanent housing.

“NIU has about 6,200 beds on campus. We then have to occupy them,” Coakley said. “New students send us housing applications, and while we should accept only about 3,000 of them, we actually admit more than 3,300 students.”

Coakley said NIU overbooks the residence halls for economic reasons.

“We overbook a little because there is a certain cost for the highest occupancy,” Coakley said. “We know there are going to be many no-shows, but by overbooking, we can just move other students into their spots without the risk of running out of students and paying for rooms that are unoccupied.”

Students usually stay in temporary housing from several days to weeks.