Residence hall contracts are for a full academic year (August-May) as long as the student is enrolled at Northern Illinois University during the contract period. If you are not prepared to commit to live on campus for the full year, do not sign-up for a room. Be sure to assess your financial resources before committing to a new contract. Each room type and meal plan has a different rate, so take that into consideration when making your new room and meal plan choices.

Students who are interested in signing up as a group of 6 or more to be residents in the same community will have specifically designated days during sign-up and before general (Lottery) sign-up. The group can choose blocks of available rooms and have a designated contact person complete the sign-up process for the full group. This option is designed to support residents who want to move together to different floors or buildings or live with other students who have common interests or hobbies. The group contact person will select a room for you by proxy. All persons in the group will need to complete a proxy form, giving their contact person their NIU Z-ID number and personal lottery number from this letter. Do not give anyone your NIU Z-ID password. The forms for community-based sign-up are available on-line, at Area Offices, and in the Residential Administration office in Neptune East.

2013-2014 Community Based Room Sign-Up Form (PDF)

On-campus residents who are involved in full-day (7 hours or more) academic assignments (student teaching, nursing clinical assignments, internships, etc.) for 2 or more days a week a minimum of 8 weeks of the semester, will have the option to contract for a reduced meal plan that is more compatible with use for dinner and weekend-only schedules for that semester. The reduced meal plan rate will be $15 a week less than the rate established for a 2012-2013 Gold Meal Plan. During room selection a resident must choose a standard meal plan. Request forms are available on-line and in the Residential Administration office in Neptune East.

Current on-campus resident: Students who want to share a room with another current on-campus student as a roommate may select their room during general sign-up. Use the lowest lottery number either student holds and have that person use the roommate pull-in option during on-line room selection to pull the second person in as their roommate.

Students are not typically released from their contract to commute from home, move in with a friend, or change to off-campus housing. Residence hall contract are for a full academic year (August-May) as long as the student is enrolled at Northern Illinois University during the contract period. If you are not prepared to commit to live on campus, do not sign-up for a room. On-campus housing offers students the opportunity to be released from their contract to support specific academic programs that involve full-semester, out of county experiences:

1.) Student teaching assignments that are for a full semester or 2 consecutive half-semester student teaching assignments outside of DeKalb County.
2.) Internships, Nursing Clinical Field Experiences, or Cooperative Education assignments that are a full semester outside of DeKalb County.
3.) Participation in a Study Abroad program.
4.) December graduation.

Please check the sign up/room selection schedule for exact times when the room selection system is available to you.