Doing laundry on campus is one of the most irritable things I’ve had to deal with as a college student. Laundry is one of the biggest problems a college student struggles with on top of many other responsibilities. Since there are many things on our plate as college students, laundry is the last thing that we want to deal with. There have been many times when my clothes were thrown out of machines before I arrived, or all the machines were broken and dirty. I then just decided to just wait another day for laundry. 

At St. Edward’s University, students share communal washers and dryers located in our residence halls, but the machines aren’t owned by the university. The laundry machines are owned by a company called CSC Services. Prior to last spring, students would have to use the CSCPay Mobile app, scan the QR code on the machines and pay about 1 cent from pre-loaded accounts. Now, laundry has been made free for everyone to use. The machines are still operated by CSC Services. 

Although I think that taking away the app and making laundry free makes the process of laundry a little easier since the worry of your money running low is gone, this doesn’t take away all the other variables that make the task the very last thing on my to-do list, such as dealing with how unclean the machines are, people throwing my clothes out of the machines, or having one of the dryers burn through my favorite clothes. 

Many students who live on campus struggle with finding a machine that isn’t broken or dirty. Many machines are dirty with things such as leftover hair or wet gum wrappers, among other things stuck in the lining of the washing machine. On the outside, some of the machines also have spilled-out soap that has been dried on the sides. Not only are the machines dirty, they malfunction all the time. There have been many times when the dryer has burned my clothes, and one time my newly-bought sheets came out of the dryer with a hole in them.

While we have to deal with these malfunctioning and almost broken machines, there are students who feel the need to take out other people’s clothes instead of finding available  machines. There have been many times where I have had my clothes thrown out of the washer or dryer I was using and I had to go find another machine to finish my laundry. I understand some students do leave their clothes in the machines for hours, but there is no need for people to move out someone’s laundry while it’s still in the machine, especially if the machine is still running.

As a senior who has been doing laundry on campus every year and has dealt with all these issues, I have come up with a few solutions of my own to avoid these problems as much as possible. Here are my main tips when approaching laundry on campus:  

• Set timers to keep track of your machine, 
• Find out the times the laundry room isn’t so busy, 
• Check your pockets before throwing pants into a machine to make sure things don’t get stuck in the machines, 
• And use tide pods for the fastest and cleanest way to clean clothes.

There are many other solutions that various students have come up with like mine. There are even others who are fed up with the state of laundry on campus and go to local laundromats. 

Yes, doing laundry on campus is a chore and is the very last thing any of us want to do, but the simplest solution for this is to make sure you’re doing your laundry the right way and at the right time. Also, keep in mind that our laundry machines are something we all share. I think laundry on campus is a hassle, but some of these issues can be fixed if we keep in mind that we are all sharing these machines and laundry spaces. I also think that it would be a lot better if CSC Services made a schedule just to check up and clean the machines just to help keep the machines in better condition.