Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- Students at USC and Benedict College dorms have been experiencing issues with mold.
"They didn't give us any room to stay in," said Jessie Tyson, a freshman living in Gambrell Hall at Benedict College.
Students at Gambrell Hall said they were told to be moved out of their dorm rooms at 8 a.m. so the school could clean up the mold growing in the basement.
"They told us to get a paper and a marker and tag our stuff so nobody would take it or so we could identify our stuff when we get through. And they just put it in the lounge," he said.
Students told News 19 they were sleeping in Gambrell's lounge area on the floor and on chairs. Benedict officials say the college has been "proactive and focused with its mold elimination strategy which also included the collection of air samples both prior to and after remediation. Samples will be sent to a third party for testing."
Bendict said a dorm meeting was held last Tuesday and flyers were posted around the dorm. Tyson went back home to Hilton Head because he didn't want to leave his stuff.
"The dorm director said he would be there watching it, but we've been having a lot of thefts going on in our building," he said. "So, a lot of people didn't want to put their stuff in the lounge."
USC experienced a similar problem a couple weeks ago.
"Some of the pipes in the closets in the dorm rooms have this insulation around them. And the insulation had actually deteriorated which caused the pipes to be exposed to air. And created consdensation on the outside of the pipes, which drove the humidity levels up even further," said Wes Hickman with USC.
Hickman said emails were sent to Sims Hall residents and their parents. Door tags were also put on student doors to let them know that their rooms had been inspected.
They concluded that three rooms were affected by the mold and would take longer to clean.
"We met with or talked on the phone with the parents of all six students. Several of them were in town for parents weekend so we were able to sit down and talk with them in person," Hickman said.
USC is still doing work to fix the mold problem in those rooms. Benedict College said the mold clean-up process should be completed by 8 tonight. Once the mold is clear, students will be allowed back into their rooms.