Many of the students on campus have noticed the brand new machines in the laundry rooms of every residential hall. But these are not the typical washers and dryers that Blackburn has seen in the past. Gone now are the days of scrounging for change or going to the bank for a roll of quarters because these machines are no longer coin-operated. Instead students can now operate their washers and dryers with just the touch of a button. While this does not necessarily mean that laundry is completely free, there are still some benefits that this new laundry system offers.
Prior to this semester many of the machines on campus were in terrible condition. In addition to not always functioning properly, some machines regularly broke down and even took students’ money without actually operating. Some of the issues with the old laundry machines came from when students would overstuff the machines and cause breakdowns. In an effort to amend the issue, Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life Abbey Hardin has been working for the past two years to create a solution. Hardin cited several issues with the response time of CSC ServiceWorks, the company that provides Blackburn with washers and dryers, and their willingness to comply with the terms of the original contract that promised the college prompt repairs and helpful service. Hardin and Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs Heidi Heinz worked to renegotiate the contract which included assigning the help of a much St. Louis based service representative from the company to ensure the campus would have better functioning washers and dryers and prompt repairs. Hardin believes that “we won’t have people overstuffing them [the washers and dryers] because they don’t want to pay as much so I hope that we have fewer maintenance issues with them.”
As a result of these negotiations, Blackburn received all new machines and is now part of what CSC ServiceWorks calls “inclusive laundry.” While it is true that students will no longer have to spend a dollar in quarters every time they use the machines on campus the cost to operate these machines are included (hence the term) in the tuition.
Students are now charged $50 a semester for the operation of the laundry machines on campus. This breaks down to $3.13 a week over the sixteen-week semester. Depending on how many loads of laundry a student does the cost is possibly cheaper than before. Assuming a student did two loads of laundry a week at the old rate of $2 a load ($1 for the washer and $1 for the dryer) that would cost $4 a week totalling $64 a semester. Senior chemistry major and Assistant Snack Bar Manager Zach Zurawski stated, “We don’t have to stress about finding quarters or strategically planning laundry day around your work schedule to have a clean uniform.”
However, for those students that mostly do laundry at home rather than on campus, the required charge of $50 is far heavier on their finances.