CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Several schools around North Carolina, including UNC and N.C. State are now in virtual semesters after spikes in coronavirus cases forced school leaders to close campus.

One school is finding a creative way to try and give students a normal fall semester.

Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte is housing some students in a nearby hotel, the Double Tree Hotel near campus, for the fall semester.

Dr. Cheryl Richards, the campus president, says right now, only one student is allowed in each dorm room on campus to allow for proper social distancing. The school teamed up with the hotel to make up to 100 rooms available for students in need of housing.

“How can we help them increase their occupancy and minimize the revenue loss that they’ve been experiencing, while still staying within parameters that the university would typically provide so that we’re not charging students an additional housing fee to have the accommodations of a hotel?” she explains.

Amber Rascoe, a sophomore staying in the hotel, says this still gives college students the feel of a normal dorm.

“They went ahead and took an extra step to make sure that everybody was able to get an experience. So, everybody allowing us to stay in these hotel rooms and taking the extra precaution to keep us safe, I greatly appreciate that,” she says.

Johnson & Wales officially starts the fall semester on Monday.