Northern Illinois University

Enrollment

Of 15,414 students enrolled in fall 2024, 11,348 were undergraduates and 4,066 graduate students. 14% studied exclusively online, students who don't need a bed near campus. Headcount fell by 90 from fall 2023 (−0.6%).

Housing the college controls

IPEDS counts 4,500 beds of institutionally controlled housing for 2024-25. That figure is the school's own capacity, on or off campus, so it includes halls the college leases or manages but not private buildings that simply market to students. Capacity was the same in 2023-24.

What students pay

The school can't split food from housing, so it reports one combined 2024-25 charge: $12,442 for the academic year. Its aid office budgets $13,900 for food and housing for a student living off campus away from family.

Those are the college's own figures. Private by-the-bed rents near campus can sit well above or below them, so check current asking rents before you underwrite a project.

How lenders read a campus like this

With 15,414 students, most of them full-time, the campus clears the 10,000-student minimum in Fannie Mae's Multifamily Guide for Dedicated Student Housing (Part III, Chapter 1, section 103.01, effective September 28, 2026). Under sections 103.01 and 103.03 a property still has to sit within 2 miles of the campus boundary or near a college-run transit line, have operated a full school year, and lease at least 80% of units for 12 months.

To size a specific property, use the student housing loan sizer. It works by the bed and shows which constraint sets the loan.

Among the 21 Illinois campuses on this site, Northern Illinois University ranks number 8 by full-time students beyond college housing. See the Illinois table.