Yesterday marked the first day of classes at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), and last week students moved into the college’s dorms and apartments. Housing has been more in demand than ever the past few school years, prompting a focus on housing expansion in NMC’s new campus master plan. So why is demand climbing even as college enrollment levels sit far below their early-2010s peak? And what types of students are filling all those units?

The Ticker sat down with Todd Neibauer, NMC’s vice president for student services and technologies, to find out.

According to NMC Communications Director Cari Noga, the college’s first foray into campus housing came in 1962, 11 years after NMC opened. Known as West Hall, the college’s initial dormitory consisted of 78 rooms and 156 beds for students.

Two more housing investments followed over the next decade, both still standing today: East Hall, a 240-bed dormitory built in 1967; and the Campus Drive Apartments, a 36-unit complex constructed in 1972.

More than 50 years later, NMC’s housing capacity is roughly the same as it was in 1972. In 2009, the college demolished the dated West Hall, taking 156 beds out of the equation. NMC operated with that diminished housing load until 2017, when it built North Hall (pictured), a 135-bed dormitory.

Earlier this year, the college purchased Front Street Flats, a nearby apartment complex with 25 units and a 47-bed capacity. Per Noga, students are being “phased in” at Front Street Flats as leases with existing tenants expire. 

Once Front Street Flats is fully switched over, NMC will be able to house approximately 460 students on campus. That number could increase in the next decade: NMC Thrive, the college’s recently-adopted 10-year campus master plan, includes plans to demolish and rebuild both East Hall and the Campus Drive Apartments, adding about 100 new beds to campus housing capacity in the process. NMC Thrive also leaves the door open for a potential housing development on property the college owns off Eastern Avenue.

According to Neibauer, demand for student housing at NMC has been steadily climbing over the past decade. The trend, he says, has sometimes been counterintuitive.

In 2009, when West Hall came down, NMC was near peak enrollment – thanks in part to a huge demographic of high school aged students in the region. Enrollment soared above 5,000 students in the early 2010s. Despite the higher enrollment, the college was able to make do with reduced housing. It wasn’t until the middle of the decade – a time of declining enrollment – that housing demand started increasing again.

North Hall solved that campus housing crisis, and then the pandemic caused demand to plummet for a couple years. Enrollment also fell significantly, hovering around 2,800 by the end of the 2010s. Now, though, Neibauer tells The Ticker that the number of students seeking housing has skyrocketed again – an issue he expects will come to a head this school year.

“North Hall has been filled every single year that we’ve had it, and it is again this year,” Neibauer says. “Our apartments are always full, and last fall we had a waitlist of about 70 folks for those...We have not filled East Hall since we opened North Hall, but our numbers there have been increasing every year since the pandemic, and I think we’re going to hit capacity this school year.”

Neibauer sees East Hall filling as proof that something has shifted. At 57 years old, that dorm is dated, with smaller living spaces and no air conditioning. Neibauer’s guess? The high cost and limited availability of rentals in the Traverse City area have made on-campus housing a sweeter option for more students.

As for who lives in campus housing, Neibauer says it runs the gamut. Historically, it’s been students of NMC’s special programs that have made up the biggest share. Unique offerings like the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, the aviation program, and the culinary school draw students from all over the country, all of whom need housing.

But Neibauer has also noticed more liberal arts and sciences students signing up for housing, and most of those students hail from closer to home. In-district NMC students – those who live within Grand Traverse County – typically have living arrangements elsewhere. But Neibauer says it’s become increasingly common for students from nearby counties to seek out on-campus housing as a way of either avoiding lengthy commutes or getting in-district tuition rates.

Last fall, NMC had 3,146 students enrolled, 344 of whom lived on campus. Of that 344, only 27 of them were from Grand Traverse County, while 264 residents hailed from other Michigan counties and 51 were from outside of the state.

“So, based on those numbers and the trends we’re seeing, I think the drive for us to plan for greater dorm and apartment capacity is definitely related to the cost of housing in northern Michigan,” Neibauer concludes.