For the first time since the 1930s, a select amount of students will have an opportunity to live in the Memorial Union Hotel next year.

The hotel, which will no longer run after July 1, is being converted into a temporary student residence hall for the 2016-17 academic year.

About 70 students will be able to live in single, double and triple rooms that will be available on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors. 

All of the rooms will have an attached bathroom, will be furnished, have Wi-Fi and cable and will have room temperature controls. No meal plan will be required to live in one of the rooms. 

The rooms are only available to returning students who are contracted for next year. Students can change their assignment beginning Thursday at 6 a.m. The housing process will work like it does for all other on-campus residence halls and apartments with rooms being available on a first-come first-serve basis.

The Memorial Union and Department of Residence allowed students to tour the area Wednesday afternoon and took several large groups of students up to explore the rooms.

Brittney Rutherford, the marketing coordinator for the Department of Residence, led many of the tours through the hotel and was available to answer any student questions during the open house, including questions about why only returning students can live in the hotel.

“They’ve lived with us before,” Rutherford said. “They know what it’s like to live in a residence hall and be a part of a community, and so we’re really looking for that returning leadership to come through. It is a new community, so we want these students to really take ownership of that and create their own traditions.”

The rooms will cost $7,637 for a single, $5,875 for a double and $5,299 for a triple.

Although many of the details will not be worked out until this summer, the Memorial Union staff and the Department of Residence know that laundry will be available, most likely on the fourth floor and will operate in the same way it does in the dorms.

Some of the other details that need to be worked out include parking, the types of beds and the exact furniture in the rooms.

Although the decision to open the Memorial Union to student living was partially driven by growing enrollment, Rutherford said the university also saw it as the best use for the Memorial Union right now.

“The Memorial Union, it’s here to serve students, and that is the best way for the building to serve students right now,” Rutherford said.

Several of the students who attended the open house expressed interest and were excited about the possibility of living in the Memorial Union.

Carolyn Simon, freshman in apparel, merchandising and design, said she thinks it would be an interesting and cool opportunity to live in the Memorial Union.

Carena Anderson, freshman in apparel, merchandising and design, was excited about the possibility of being so close to the activities on campus.

“Its like right on campus, and you’d be right on top of everything happening,” Anderson said.

Jalissa Long, junior in psychology, agreed with Anderson.

“I just wanted to check it out,” Long said. “I think it’d be nice to be like close to everything on campus. The [Memorial Union] is a pretty central place. I spend a lot of time here anyways.”

Rutherford was surprised by the amount of students who attended the open house, but was happy with the result and excited about the future of the project.

“It comes with its challenges of course, but it also shows us that we’re providing a service that students really like and really value,” Rutherford said.