Daily Skiff

Media Credit: Paige McArdle Freshman fashion merchandising major Audrey Taylor and freshman pre-major Greg Rosson do laundry Thursday in Sherley Hall. Use of the washing machines and dryers is free to all on-campus residents.

Good news for students living on campus: you can skip the "smell test" while rummaging for clean clothes.

For the first time at the university, all students living on campus will receive free laundry service after the university equipped all residence halls with charge-free washers and dryers, Craig Allen, director of Residential Services, said.

Allen said many college campuses started offering free laundry service to their students in recent years. The university decided to offer free laundry to students campus-wide after a successful test run of the program in Clark Hall last year, he said.

Implementing the program cost the university about $120,000, which will be absorbed into students' room and board, Allen said.

"We're still paying for all the machines," Allen said. "But that amount is covered by student rent so it makes our very small rent increases from last year look even smaller when you consider that everybody got free laundry and we still only went up about two-and-a-half percent."

Allen said the overall convenience to students on campus offsets the increase in room and board.

"You don't need to stuff your clothes and say 'I'm going to try to do only one load'," Allen said. "There's no searching for quarters, there's no swiping your ID and adding it to send home. It's just a great program."

Early reaction from students like Pearce Edwards, a freshman political science and history major, has been positive.

"It makes (laundry) a lot easier to manage," Edwards said. "I can't imagine having to keep a stack of quarters with me. We just walk in, open the door, pop in the stuff and push a button; no card sliding or anything."

Because of the success of the program, Milton Daniel Hall will also be equipped with free washers and dryers for its reopening in August of 2010, Allen said.

"You have great facilities, high efficiency machines and no cost," Allen said. "There's just nothing not to love about this program."

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