Students whose lives aren’t centered in DeKalb have a place to go and hang out between classes.

Created by the non-traditional students’ group S.W.A.N. and Judd Baker, director of the Homes Student Center, NIU’s commuter lounge has catered to students since 1991 in the student center basement.

Baker brought up the idea for a lounge after seeing a similar idea work during his days at Iowa State University. He was skeptical at first, and didn’t understand why a group of students needed their own lounge, but changed his mind after seeing that many lived differently than the average student.

“Many of these students are older,” Baker said. “They may have other jobs and families of their own. It’s a place for them to go and interact with people who have the same needs as them.”

S.W.A.N. vice president Thomas Armour, a senior family social services major, said the lounge is good for students with commonalities — usually their age.

“I think the basic service is that students can come down here,” Armour said. “It’s a place where we can congregate together.”

Junior meteorology major Michael Viggiano started going to the lounge in 1998 to help him pass time between classes.

“The people are nice to talk to and hang out with,” he said. “It can get quiet at times, so it’s a nice place to do work or sleep.”

Senior anthropology major Jason Comberly said the low noise level and choice location are what bring him back again and again.

Financial aid information, tutoring resources, a refrigerator and a microwave are a few of the commodities available to students in the lounge, but Armour said the most unique feature is a computer lab.

“Our lab is different from the NIU labs,” he said. “We don’t have restrictions on our computers. If a student needed to do a project for his or her business class, we would allow them to use their software on our computers.”

The lounge also has toys, games and a television for students who might have children of their own, and Baker recommends it as a place for students to bring their kids while they do some studying.