As the school year is beginning, students are finding themselves facing higher fees in laundry rooms across campus.

This semester, the cost of laundry has been increased to $1.50 per load in residence halls on campus. However, the cost of washing and drying clothes was not always so high. In the past, laundry cost $1 per load in residence hall laundry rooms.

When laundry prices were lower, the machines were known to break down frequently across campus. This semester, WKU changed contracts for laundry facilities and has purchased new washers and dryers for every residence hall. For the most part, the new machines have worked well, according to students, but the higher cost has annoyed others.

Some students said they understand the price, while others called it unreasonable.

“I am assuming that since the equipment is new, it means that you can do laundry faster,” freshman Corey Westman said. “And for better equipment, it needs to be more expensive, so it is probably worth it.”

Westman lives in Pearce Ford Tower and said she has already done laundry twice within the past two weeks. Westman said she has had no problems with the new machines, while other students are having issues with the instructions written on them.

“The very first time I did my laundry, I was confused because I inserted my coins in the wrong dryer,” sophomore and McCormack resident Garrett Evans said. “I put my clothes in the bottom dryer when I paid for the top dryer, because the directions weren’t clear on which coin slot belonged to which dryer.”

Another student living in McCormack, freshman Joel Sizemore, didn’t think the higher priced laundry was worth it, even for newer machines.

“I think I’m just going to start going back home every other weekend to do laundry for free,” Sizemore said.

According to a survey conducted by the Residence Hall Association during the spring 2016 semester, most students living on campus were unhappy with the residence hall laundry facilities.

About 50 percent of respondents of the 2016 survey disagreed with the statement “When I am ready to do my laundry using my residence hall laundry facilities, the washers and dryers are working and operational.”

Another question on the survey asked if students would prefer paying a flat fee at the beginning of each semester to cover the cost of laundry, as opposed to paying on a per-load basis. About 73 percent of respondents said they would prefer to pay a flat fee. At the time, it was estimated that the flat fee would be approximately $17 per semester.

Reporter John Singleton can be reached at 270-745-6011 or [email protected].