With a new vendor comes new opportunities and new costs.

Students who remained in the residence halls this year have noticed that there are new washing and drying machines. For a while, those services were free.

That has changed. Students must pay $1.25 for using a washer along with another $1 to use a dryer. This is a significant change from last year, when it only cost $1.65 to wash clothes and nothing to dry.

Mike Stang, executive director of Housing and Dining, said this transition was encouraged by NIU’s new residence hall launderer, ASI Campus Laundry Solutions of Dayton, Ohio. He said that what happened last year was a student would pay for one load of laundry and then spread it out among three or four dryers. Sophomore biology major Lindsey McKinney said she does not like having to pay for drying her clothes this year because she is worried about having to use a dryer multiple times.

“I used to have to dry my clothes multiple times because they wouldn’t be dry. Now I have to pay each time to use a dryer,” McKinney said. “It should work if I have to pay for them.”

Sophomore Alex Bean said he also didn’t like having to pay for the dryers. However, he said the extra money students would have to pay is worth having the nicer equipment.

Stang said he understands concerns about broken machines, and he has not heard any complaints about the new ones.

Dave LaBanc, director of Residential Facilities, said student concerns about paying for dryers should not be an issue.

“Last year’s concerns with the dryers shouldn’t be a problem this year because of the new machines and the new vendor,” LaBanc said.

Stang voiced similar sentiments, and said that the machines are 10 weeks old, not 10 years old. Stang said the new technology will also help NIU and ASI in providing laundry service to students.

One new feature this year is the ability to go online and check the availability of washers and dryers for a particular hall. Students can check how many machines are available, their status and how long it will take to finish their current cycles.

Stang said both the University and the vendor will do evaluation checks on the machines to ensure they are up and running.

All comments are moderated before being published. We will not edit your comments, but we also will not approve those that are abusive, off-topic, attack another poster or contain information we know to be libelous or false.

During peak weekday viewing times, most comments will be reviewed within six hours. For more detailed information, click here.

After submitting your comment, check below for a confirmation message.

• Your name:
• Enter text from image:
  

• Your comment:

* 300-character count. HTML formatting will not display.