Northwestern University

Enrollment

Of 23,856 students enrolled in fall 2024, 9,399 were undergraduates and 14,457 graduate students. 3% studied exclusively online, students who don't need a bed near campus. Headcount rose by 653 from fall 2023 (+2.8%).

Housing the college controls

IPEDS counts 4,476 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 shrank by 12 beds from the year before (4,488 in 2023-24).

What students pay

The typical 2024-25 housing charge for a student sharing a room was $12,645 for the academic year, roughly $1,405 a month spread over nine months. Food added $8,481. For aid purposes the school budgets $21,126 for food and housing on campus and $21,126 for a student living off campus away from family, the same amount.

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 23,856 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, Northwestern University ranks number 4 by full-time students beyond college housing. See the Illinois table.