University Plaza Apartments

I lived in University Plaza my sophomore year and let’s just say I am glad to be out. Firs of all, when you sign up they make you sign a contract rather than a lease. As a pre-​law student, I should have noticed something fishy at that point. Living there was very uncomfortable and I expected much more for the price.
1. The staff is very rude and suspicious of everything you do. You always have to explain yourself and make you feel like you are doing something wrong. RA’s are always on «patrol» trying to catch you doing something wrong when you may be doing something as innocent as laundry (true story). They limit the number of guests you can have and how many night a week you can have them. They advertise all of this security like it’s great but the security works against the students not for them.
2. The food was awful. Everything is very cheap and overprocessed. By the taste of it, the food was frozen, cooked, and refrozen several times. This is a serious thing to consider because the cost of your food will be included in your fees, even though you will have to spend lots of money on groceries because the food is so terrible. I have a pretty strong somach but i would be rushing to the bathroom all night if I ever ate a meal there.
3. The staff is very dishonest. After leaving U.P. I did not recieve my deposit back because there were damages to other floors in my tower. These were floors I had never even been on but I was charged nontheless, because «that’s policy.» Also, I have heard countless times from other people that lived there (can probably find these reviews online) that signed a contract for one semester only to get ready to check out and have the administration say «No you signed up for a full year.» Very tricky. If it was such a great place to live, they wouldn’t have to force people to stay there.
4. Total invasion of privacy. The staff at university plaza has the right to search your room. They search for «fire hazards» a couple times a semester and when you return to your room after a search, your lamps, lights, plugs, and power strips will be missing and you furnature and belongings will be scattered haphazardly around the room. This is something you just have to get used to. Also, if they see fit to search your room for any other reason, they will. These occasions most often occur when someone on your floor is smoking, in that case they will search through all of the rooms in that proximity to find out who it is. Maybe it’s just me, but I like a sense of privacy where I live.
5. Kish Students!!! Lucky for me I am an NIU student and didn’t have to deal with the blatant discrimination, but if it were me, I would get a group of students together and sue for discrimination. The kish students are required to pay a deposit upwards of $ 1000 upon move in when NIU students only pay $ 500. The kish students are assigned to the south tower even if they request otherwise. The Plaza adheres to NIU’s schedule. This means that if kish has a spring break or finals that occur at a different time that NIU’s you will have to pay extra to stay at the plaza and the cafeteria will be closed during this time even though Kish Students pay the exact same amount for their room as NIU students do. If you ask why this is policy they have no straight answer. It seems as though they are trying to get rid of the Kish Students in favor of the NIU students.
6. Cost! I don’t mind paying a lot of money for a great place to live. But this was awful and I felt very uncomfortable for my entire stay here. Before you consider living at Universitry Plaza, talk to some of the people currently living there. I am sure they will have similar experiences.

This private dorm is a decent place to live and, with the amenities it provides, way better than the dorms.
They have 2 person suites or one person rooms. They have way more of the former, so register way in advance to try and get a single. The suites have individual rooms for each person, a common foyer area and share the bathroom (two sinks) and closet (huge walk-​in, about double the size of an average closet).
The cafeteria has a lot of selections, though as stated by Diana, they do get monotonous. They had 2 – 3 «special» holiday dinners for residents which were pretty delicious. The gym is small, but hardly busy, and includes TVs, cardio equipment and weight area. The pool is large and would be good for some one who likes to swim laps. Both are in house (important in frigid DeKalb winters) and less busy than the gym/​pool provided by the school.
Super close to the campus; this is an ideal place to live.
Minus 2 stars because of the price (I’m in school, not made of cash!).