Managing the student’s accommodation application process at College of Agriculture Lafia is a complex and time-sensitive task. This research work deals with the problems of managing and allocating hostels to students in College of Agriculture Lafia and to avoid the problems which occur when carried out manually. The aim of this research work “Online Hostel Management System” is to develop a web based system with a central database that will automatically allocate rooms to students, manage records related to the hostel, the system designed will keep track of all the available hostel rooms, their occupants and fund generated from hostel fee. Information for this research work was collected from two forms of data which are primary and secondary data. These are done by semi structured interviews and exploitation of the services of the library from textbooks, journals, internet and other materials for purpose of better understanding. The new system was implemented using PHP and MySQL. The result of the research is a Hostel Management and Allocation System for College of Agriculture Lafia.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Hostel by definition is an establishment which provides cheap food and lodging for specific group of people, it is also seen as a home for students when staying away from their home. It has large well ventilated dormitories and single rooms and is situated in the school premises. Providing clean and calm hostel accommodation is one of the key responsible of school management.
To manage the hostel facilities, a lot of data need to be maintained such as number of student hostel can accommodate, hostel rules and regulation, hostel fee, hostel in and out of student, guest and visitor record and so on. So, this needs the system which has an ability to capture all kind of data and information and analyze it properly for smooth functioning of the hostel. Hostel warden can easily maintain the data. 
Hostel Management in schools often involves administering of all activities of students. All these still remain difficult and require some job for the top management. Hostel Management functions and responsibilities in modern day schools have always been a problem in managing, because of the manual system method of tools they use. Hostel Management System is well designed specially to meet challenges of administrative set up of any school.
Hostel Management System (HMS) can be used to assist in student’s allocation, setup hostel information, hostel application, and visitor management. In short, this system will assist the staff in managing some of the hostel activities.

 

1.2       BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE COLLEGE

The institution was established in 1977 under the ministry of agriculture as a training school. In 1987, the school was elevated to the status of a college of agriculture promulgated by the then plateau state government by virtue of edict No. 13 of 1987 to higher national diploma levels. Following the creation of Nasarawa State October 1996, the enabling law was reenacted as edict No. 15 of 1998 by the state government and subsequently to reflect the new dispensation as Nasarawa State College of agriculture, lafia.
The objectives for establishing the institution by the Edict No, 15 of 1998 are:

1. To train people to acquire technical and vocational skills, which are needed for the economic and social development of Nasarawa State and Nigeria as a whole especially in the field of agriculture.
2. To train and provide people who could improve the quality of the environment by applying their acquired knowledge in finding solutions to our environmental problems for the conveniences of members of the society.
3. To inculcate the spirit of self-reliance, industry and versatility in students.
4. Community service oriented training and provides opportunity for students to be able to appreciate the standard of technology in all its complexities.
5. Character-training and promotion of opportunity for job orientation.
6. Instilling into students the desire for achievement excellence and live-long education.
7. Developing national consciousness and loyalty to truth and honesty.   

List of schools and academic departments

The school system came into effect from April, 1998 and each school is headed by a Dean. The schools are:
a. School of Agriculture (SOA) with:
i.          Department of Animal Science (AS);
ii.         Department of Crop Production Technology (CPT);
iii.        Department of Horticulture And Landscape Technology (HLT);
iv.        Department of Fisheries Technology (FST);
b. School of Agriculture Engineering with:
i.          Department of Agriculture Engineering (AE);
ii.         Department of Agricultural Technology (AGT);
c. School of Basic Science and General Studies with:
i.          Department of Basic Science (BS);
ii.         Department of General Studies (GS);
d. School Of Agriculture Extension and Home Economics with:
i.          Department Of Agricultural Extension And Management (AEM);
ii.         Department of Home And Rural Economics (HRE);

1.3       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 

The growing number of students in higher institutions all over the world has posed a lot of accommodation problem on the part of students and school management. At College of Agriculture Lafia, the whole process of hostel allocation and management is done manually. The few hostels that exist in the college are not properly managed. Statistics of the number of rooms required to match the growing number of students are far-fetched. Most often, the overall process is time consuming and requires a lot of effort, student’s information retrieval is difficult and records are unsecured due to manual method of storage using hard cover notes. Hostel administrators cannot give accurate information of the occupancy of a particular room. These and many more form the statement of the problem that necessitated this research work.

1.4       AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The aim of the research work is to develop hostel management software that will manage the hostel activities of College of Agriculture Lafia. 
The main objectives of the research include: 

1. Identify and model the requirements specification to develop the system.
2. Design and develop a central database system that would serve as hostel database, which will contain all the records related to Hostel.  
3. Provide online student application for students to apply for hostel.
4. To upgrade from manual means of student’s hostel management.

 

1.5       SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

The scope of this research work is centred on the development of hostel management system for College of Agriculture Lafia. This project which is web-based, automates the student’s hostel application process, allocates rooms to students, notifies students of their application status anytime they log onto the portal and also maintains the integrity of the information being processed by using password to limit access to only approved individuals. The system also creates automatic database for the storage of students and staffs information.    

1.6       LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Some of the limitations of the proposed system are:

1. The system cannot handle online payment of student’s accommodation fee and maintenance fee.
2. The system cannot handle other hostel issues such as mess activities because the existing system does not have one.

 

1.7       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The new system designed for computer driven student’s hostel management and allocation will among other things: Facilitate timely allocation of hostel rooms to students, Check the hostel occupancy at any time for information management Sum up the total amount realized from hostel fee each session, Enable management to plan on improving hostel living condition, have first-hand information on the statistics of students in the hostel, so also keeps the records of staffs employed to work in the hostel.

 

1.8       DEFINITION OF TERMS

Hostel: A hostel is a home for students when staying away from their home. It has large well ventilated dormitories and single rooms and is situated in the school premises.

 A Management Information System (MIS): Is a system that provides information needed to manage organizations effectively.

Hostel Management System: is a software that manage the activities of staff and students in the hostel, the system enables students to apply online for hostels and the system allocates rooms to the students in the hostels. 
Data: Historically, data referred to known facts that could be recorded and stored on computer media. These are facts made up of text, numbers, images, and sounds.
Databases: A systematically arranged collection of computer data, structured so that it can be automatically retrieved or manipulated. It is also called Databank.
Computer Program: This is a set of instruction that guides the computer on the action to perform.
System: system is a combination or arrangement of parts to form an integrated whole. A system includes an orderly arrangement according to some common principles or rules.