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College Marketplace is the student-only buy and sell app for Chicago State University in Chicago, Illinois. Every account is verified with a @csu.edu email address, so you're only ever trading with other Cougars — not strangers from Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.

Housing at Chicago State is refreshingly simple. On-campus students all live in the Residence Hall on the 9501 South King Drive campus, where rooms come as singles with a private bathroom, doubles that share a bathroom with the unit next door, and a small number of triples. There's no sprawling dorm map to learn, which means everything you need is already on campus, usually a few floors away. Chicago State students post mini fridges, futons, storage bins, desk lamps, monitors, bikes, and gently used textbooks every semester — usually for a fraction of retail.

Rooms arrive furnished with a bed and mattress, a desk and desk chair, a dresser, a closet or wardrobe, window blinds, and an in-room AC/heat unit, so air conditioning is not something you have to shop for. Bedding is the thing people get wrong: doubles and double-as-singles take Twin XL sheet sets, while single rooms have full-size mattresses, so check your assignment before you buy. Lofts, risers, and any other weight-supporting structures are prohibited, which rules out the usual bed-raiser kits. Appliances are capped at one major appliance per room — a refrigerator of 4.5 cubic feet or less, or a microwave under 1,200 watts. Cooking gear like toasters, hot plates, rice cookers, and air fryers isn't permitted, and a dining plan is required with a housing contract, which is exactly why compact fridges and microwaves move fast in the listings here.

For handoffs, stick to the busy parts of campus. The Cordell Reed Student Union is the obvious default between classes, the Gwendolyn Brooks Library works when you're swapping textbooks anyway, and the Jacoby Dickens Center, the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center, and the University Bookstore all have steady foot traffic and good lighting. Meet, look at the item, hand over the cash or send it from your phone, and walk back to class — no shipping labels, no delivery fees, no meeting someone off campus.

Popular categories at Chicago State: textbooks and course materials · dorm and apartment furniture · mini fridges and microwaves · bikes and scooters · Chicago State apparel and game day gear · electronics and monitors · event tickets · rugs and room decor · storage bins and organizers