New Student Application Process

Step 1: Information About Your Options

After being officially admitted to the University, new students are automatically sent a Residence Hall information packet. If you do not receive a copy, check your enrollment status with Northern Illinois University's Office of Registrations and Records. We do not get your name to send out housing information until you are officially accepted to NIU. If you need another copy, you may contact Housing & Dining at 815-753-1525 or email us at Housing_Dining@niu.edu.

Step 2: Apply for On-Campus Housing & Dining

You were assigned a Z ID as part of your NIU acceptance (example: z98765432). This identifier is permanent. You will use it for access to computing and communications services on campus. If you have not yet logged in to your account, your initial password is your date of birth in YYYYMMDD format. This is a temporary password. You can change your password by going to password.niu.edu and following the on-screen instructions.

To apply for on-campus housing go to "Apply for Housing". You will need to know you NIU Z ID and Z ID password to log in. Look at the "What’s New" section. You will find a link there that will take you to the area where you complete your application. Once you are logged in there, you will follow a series of application screens. The demographic information for your application should be filled in for you, based on the information you supplied to Northern Illinois University when you applied for admission. You will also make your $150 prepayment by credit card at the time you complete your Housing & Dining application.

If you choose not to pay via credit card or it is not possible to access Internet Explorer or Netscape you may download the contract from the website (or call our office to have a copy mailed to you) and mail it with your check or money order for $150.00 to:

Residential Administration

East Neptune Hall

DeKalb, Illinois 60115

Step 3: Select Your Room

In late March new applicants will be sent a letter with a lottery number and instructions about how to log back on to the application website to choose your residence hall room. The letter will give you specific information about different floor options and how to select a room with a preferred roommate. Students who apply to Housing & Dining after April 1st will get a notice at their NIU Z ID email account within a week after their application has been completed, that their room selection account has been set-up and they can log back on to the website to choose their room.

Freshman Residency Requirement

The Freshman Residency Requirement stipulates that all single students classified as freshmen (under 30 hours of college credit) who will have not reached their 21st birthday by September 1, and are not residing with their parents or legal guardians, must live in University residence halls, and if they do not apply for on-campus housing, can be charged the full room rate. If you are a new freshmen who would like to commute from the home of your parents or legal guardians, be sure to submit a Freshman Residency Commuter Waiver Request, otherwise you will be charged for a residence hall space through the Freshmen Residency Requirement, even though you do not submit a Housing & Dining application. The form is available on the Housing & Dining website, or you may call Residential Administration office 815-753-1525 to request a copy be mailed to you.

Pre-Semester Room Change Requests

If you have reason to need a room change after you have selected your room on-line, you may contact the staff at Residential Administration for assistance. We require written confirmation (this can be email) from the student resident of all room change requests. Requests for roommate matching need to have written confirmation from both students. Our ability to make requested room changes is limited to the spaces available at the time of the request. If the space you request is not available, you may ask the staff member assisting you to place you on the Room Waiting List for the particular type of space you prefer. The Waiting List is monitored by the in-hall residence hall staff during the academic year. The person coordinating room changes in your building will contact you when the space type you requested becomes available.