Hobomaxxing

The concept of living homelessly to keep cost of living down, while maintaining an otherwise normal life. Usually done to build savings while working a job, or to get through college without student loans. Why pay rent if you don't have to?

The rest of this page will consist of documentation of specific locations, tips, and tricks, mostly based on HomelessStudent's findings (although the great thing about a wiki is that anyone can edit. If you have info to share, please share it.)

Showers

There are a number of showers in campus buildings outside of the dorms, including Chem Sci, Forestry, and the GLRC. Two of these are accessible without a HuskyCard if you enter the building during the workday. I do recommend using the showers outside of normal working hours though.

The MTU Biking resources page also has a list of all the showers, but some info seems outdated. The Wayback machine shows it hasn't been updated in ages as of October 2025.

I also reviewed a University of Michigan shower for fun.

MTU Biking Resources and Notes (membership only access excluded aside from SDC)

Building Name	Building Number	Room Location	MTU Notes	Hobo Sigils
Lakeshore Center	3	Next to the west stairwell
ROTC Building	4
Minerals & Materials Engineering Building	12	228
J.R. Van Pelt Library	17	Garden Level	Two single stall and handicap accessible private showers are freely available for employees and students near the north-side restrooms on basement floor. Lockers are also available. Only available during normal Library business hours.
U.J. Noblet Forestry and Wood Prod.	18	1st Floor	Across the hallway from 104
Chemical Sciences and Engr Building	19	Basement and Sub-basement	Men's showers and lockers are in the basement. The Women's shower and lockers are in the sub-basement. Contact Stefan Wisniewski sgwisniw@mtu.edu for use.
R. L. Smith Building	20	Basement	Men's custodial locker, through men's restroom
Student Development Complex	24	1st Floor	Membership required
ATDC	95	1st Floor	Across the hallway from the main men's and women's restrooms
Great Lakes Research Center	100	1st Floor near west stairwell

Cooking

The dorms all have kitchens/kitchenettes, if you look like a student who could plausibly live in the dorms, and someone lets you in, I suspect you would have no problems. Many academic buildings have microwaves in common areas with large staff/faculty presences. These academic spaces are generally unoccupied outside of normal working hours and dorm spaces can have people at all hours.

Sleeping

Haven't personally tested this one, but I've heard you can sleep in most lecture halls if you're awake before 6am. No promises though. I wouldn't sleep in the same place more than once every couple weeks though. Keep a low profile and don't ruin it for anyone else.