It was a wise decision by NIU President John La Tourette to decrease enrollment this semester, but as the old Irish saying goes, every moment of success must be paid for

by an equal or greater amount of misery.

When NIU made the decision to cut enrollment, it should have realized that there would be a greater number of vacancies for the fall semester.

Housing administrators should have taken action the moment the enrollment cut was announced. When students requested rooms last spring, plans should have been made to pair up students instead of leaving an unusually high number of unrequested singles.

Hall administrators now want to create more single rooms. On the surface this sounds like a great idea. It would generate some additional dollars and help to offset the decrease in revenue due to the enrollment reduction. However, it will also force students who were stuck with a single room to move in with another student or pay the difference between a single and double room, which can be as much as $500.

Students who don’t choose to pay this ransom will be caused great inconvenience. They will literally have to pick up all of their belongings and move to another room and possibly another floor, leaving friends behind.

This is another example of the NIU double-standard. The administration can make mistakes and the students have to suffer, but the students better not forget to mail their tuition on time or else.

The housing department stumbled on the financial road, but didn’t fall. They should swallow the loss this semester, but plan to take advantage next spring.