I took part in an NUin town hall yesterday, and one of the deans who was hosting said that one of every four students offered an NUin spot accepted this year ass opposed to the typical one of every five. 2000+ total admitted students (NUin and regular admissions). This means they will have to house NUin Boston students in two hotels (the Westin and the Sheraton) and are asking for volunteers to accept full-year housing in one of the hotels because they don’t have space on campus for everyone in the spring.
It was definitely an unpredictable year for college admissions and several colleges have a housing crunch, including U of Tampa and Purdue. If it makes you feel better, those hotel rooms are probably bigger and nicer than your standard NU freshman dorm. The Sheraton is a little closer to campus than the Westin and is right near the Prudential Center mall. Would be a five minute walk to campus. Flour Bakery is near the Sheraton and is amazing. Last year they gave the NUin kids at the Westin a Charlie card for bus and subway transportation.
If you are on Facebook, the Northeastern Parents FB group has a wealth of information and there is also an NUin Boston Parents Class of 25 FB group.
Thanks. I’m in a couple of those groups and find the parents to be mostly scary helicopter types who can’t even let their kids find their own barber or backpack. The kids will get Charlie cards, and while the hotel rooms are bigger with bigger beds and private baths, there is very little storage space, elevators are slow and washer/dryers not up to snuff (in the Westin at least). My S wants to move on campus in the spring. Wants to be part of campus life and not feel like he’s a traveling salesman.
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Campus was pretty locked down last year and parents couldn’t go inside their kids’ rooms to help with moving so I never saw the dorm room but in pictures it was small. Students couldn’t go in other rooms or common rooms for most of the year. My son still managed to make good friends from around the country and Mexico, get good grades and explore Boston. Socializing should be much easier this year.
I always learn new things in the FB group -the IKEA Frakta bags with the zippers are terrific for moving!
Hope your son has a great experience!
The Sheraton Boston has been closed since March, 2020. Northeastern must have made them an offer they couldn’t refuse to get them to reopen. That hotel is fairly close to campus. it is no further away than some outlying residence halls at large state universities.
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You must be thinking of a different hotel. The Sheraton Boston is open for business, according to the website.
If it’s the Sheraton on Dalton Street, it was closed in May when we went to campus, but I assumed that was due to a lack of demand during COVID and hope it has re-opened. It would be a very convenient location to campus. That’s the Sheraton I described that is next to the Prudential Center.
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That’s the one.
Sounds like, at least as of now, that staying in the hotels is voluntary. Maybe they’ll go to a lottery if they don’t get enough volunteers? If your son wants to be on campus then go for it. If he has to adjust expectations then he can address that when and if it arises.
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The Marriott/Sheraton website shows the Sheraton Boston but if you try to check room availability for the next week or so the message comes up that there are no rooms available. I doubt if they are sold out.
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This article about NU’s CFO Tom Nedell talks about the high enrollment for the fall.
“Our enrollment yield rate -those who accept us after we accept them - has gone up significantly this year and that’s not something you can predict,” Nedell says. “In my mind it’s because in comparison to a lot of our peer schools, we came through the pandemic so successfully.”
As a parent of a freshman last year, I agree. So many of my son’s friends at other schools were not allowed on their campuses at all or were in dorms but with no in-person classes.
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The parents are not any different from super active parents here on CC who’re already following FB groups and who know all the nitty gritty about campus life and dorms. 
Parents groups are a resource for information. It’s not like the parents are taking their college kids to the barber.
Good luck to your student!