Hundreds of Chicago State Students Moved to Hotels Due to Lack of Heat, Hot Water

Nearly 300 students are being moved off-campus at Chicago State University and moving into hotels as they start studying for final exams.

The university says it’s paying for students to stay in the hotels — since there’s no heat or hot water in their dorm rooms or the student union.

The school blames old pipes — the same problem also forced students out of the dorm last fall.

Students are preparing to finish the fall semester but the campus residence hall just closed over the weekend.

“They texted us that we didn’t have heat," said freshman Katarina Drazic. "They had to evacuate us to three hotels near the Midway Airport. So that was a little shocking.”

Campus police are letting students get stuff out of their dorm rooms to take to the hotel.

“I think I’ll get used to it but it’s definitely harder because we need to wake up earlier and be ready to take our stuff,” Drazic said.

The university says campus shuttles take students to and from the hotels every hour — about 30 to 40 minutes each way.

“You have to catch shuttles. I mean, it’s not as convenient as staying on campus," said sophomore Destinee Pointer. "So I would say you have to get up earlier.”

But the students also don’t seem upset with having to stay in a hotel.

“They’re giving us meals and they have a lot of supervision going on and everybody’s like really close together,” Pointer said.

A university spokeswoman told NBC 5 there’s no timeline for the residence hall to reopen.

Final exams are next week.