Residential Halls Association and the Department of Residential Life are working together to prioritize better educating students on how to use the 20 laundry facilities on campus, RHA President Steven Chaffin said.
The plan is to address laundry issues in residence halls by informing students how to properly use the machines without overloading them. Education ranges from videos to bulletin boards detailing steps on how to do laundry.
Issues with laundry machines stem more from the use rather than the defects with the machines themselves, Chaffin said. He also said that some of the problems — such as putting the detergent pod in the slot, using the wrong type of detergent, not removing lint from the lint screen in the dryer or overloading the machines — occur when students haven’t worked with the kind of commercial dryers in the residence halls.
Educating residents about effective use of laundry machines is vital to addressing the equipment issues, Chaffin said. He said student staff members are another source for residents to use if they are confused about reporting equipment issues.
“I know some boards (in the laundry rooms) already have that, but just making sure that advice is right there with them so they can look up and they know how to use it correctly,” he said.
Most laundry complaints stem from malfunctioning laundry equipment, ResLife Frankie Minor said. However, he said that it is not up to the department to maintain or replace faulty machines, contrary to what many residents might think. It is up to the vendor, a company called Jetz.
Houg said the department signed an eight-year contract with Jetz in 2008 to acquire laundry machines and for the company to fix or replace malfunctioning machines.
Houg said ResLife earns approximately $492,000 a year from laundry, 19.8 percent of which goes to Jetz as commission.
Minor said students are responsible for reporting any defects with the laundry machines and that the department relies on this student reporting.
Minor said he believes that even with some of the current problems that RHA and ResLife are undergoing, laundry at MU is a good deal. He said other universities have a 60-40 or 70-30 split with their vendor, whereas MU keeps about 80 percent of the revenue from laundry.
“That money comes back and all gets dumped into the residence halls,” Minor said. “The more money we generate from that, the less we have to charge students who live in the facility.”
Laundry is currently $1.25 to wash and $1.25 to dry.
Minor said he believes the laundry in residence halls is inexpensive and even comparable to most private laundry facilities in Columbia.
Residents like freshman Sarah Beachem, who lives in Hawthorn Hall, believe the laundry costs can be a financial burden on many students. Beachem said she believes students are paying too much for laundry and that the expense should be included in the cost of living.
“Sometimes I have to do multiple loads of laundry because it isn’t dry or didn’t get washed and pay more on top of the $1.25 we’re already paying,” she said. “We pay a ridiculous amount of tuition, and I feel like laundry should be included in at least the residential fee.”
Minor said another part of the plan is for the department to create a video explaining how to use the laundry machines.
Another tool students can use is [Laundry View](http://laundryview.com/lvs.php), which shows which machines are available, in use, idle or out of order. Laundry View shows how long it will take for a cycle to completed.
The site lists all 20 residence halls that have laundry rooms, including Mark Twain and Johnston halls. Until mid-November, those halls did not have Laundry View. As of Tuesday night, the Mark Twain Laundry View site did not display any washer or dryer availabilities.
Rita Houg, Res Life assistant director for building services, said it took her some time to get in touch with Jetz and Telecom, but they were ultimately able to fix the settings and get Mark Twain and Johnston on the “new network switches.”
