High Cost of UW Dorm Living
In the hierarchy of impending college expenses, tuition and housing sit at the top of the metaphorical pyramid. For residents of the University of Wyoming, an often overlooked cost is the $5 to $7 minimum fee to clean their clothes, a fee that could have been spent on essential payments such as gas or food.
Unlike traditional laundromats where one has to pay a couple of quarters to purchase time for a washer or dryer, the University of Wyoming has replaced this system and instead uses an app called “Clear Token”, a mobile payment platform that serves as the mandatory bridge between a student and a load of laundry.
To the administration, it may appear to be a simple modernization, but to students who are already spending copious amounts on education and living, it could be the difference between clean laundry and saving up to drive home for break.
“I like to clean my laundry at least once a week,” Collin Laughlin, a freshman living on campus said. “I was spending over $100 a semester…sometimes I will pay between $6 to $12 a week depending on [how] many loads I need to do.”
The process which is used by the Clear Token app was originally designed to make paying for laundry frictionless by using digital currency, however it has become more of a chore and viewed as somewhat sketchy to some students.
After downloading the app and linking a credit card, students must load the app with a minimum balance, often $10 or more according to the Google Play store and Apple store, which become digital currency “coins”. Under the apps account policy, it is indicated that at the first of each month, the user’s account may be charged up to $2, with that amount returned in credits.
Once in the basement laundry room, students’ phones connect to the laundry machines via Bluetooth. After selecting their washer number, money is taken from their account and the washing process begins.
This “frictionless” method of digital payment does not come without its glitches. And when these malfunctions occur, there isn’t a coin slot to fall back on.
While demonstrating the app, Laughlin explained why he believes that it is poorly programmed and has a record of being untrustworthy.
“I have had [the app] take money from me. It took 20 bucks from me, and I never got coins.”
He then went on to explain that the price per cycle often fluctuates between $2.75 a wash to $3.50.
At the University of Wyoming, it is required for first-year students to live on campus, meaning that the housing, dining hall and laundry fees are unavoidable, often overwhelming fresh college students.
Nathan Pelino, who traveled across the country to attend the university was required to live on campus last year, an investment that was costly and not equating to the quality that he believed he could have received elsewhere in Laramie.
On top of housing and dining fees, Pelino said that he was aware of the price of laundry, however he was unaware of the holding capacity of each machine.
“I had to use four machines every time I wanted to do my laundry, which made it a lot more expensive than I expected.” Pelino said. Roughly, this would be about $10 a week spent on laundry that could have gone into other expenses.
“I ended up spending a little over $250 on laundry while I was in the dorms,” Pelino said. “[It’s] absolutely ridiculous that they’re making college students who are working part-time or focusing on their degree pay so much or at all to do their laundry.”
Laughlin shared the sentiment.
“I know most people in college are on scholarship or use student loans, and while [the university] may say that ‘its not that bad’, its $12 a week coming out of pocket while paying 2 to $3,000 plus, just to live in the dorms alone,” he said.
While the university frames these costs as part of a modern campus experience, a drive to Clean City Laundry on 4th Street tells a different story. As listed on their website, a standard “double loader” wash starts at $1.95, nearly a dollar less than the minimum price Pelino and Laughlin reported in the dorms.
Beyond the individual cycle price, the Clear Token service introduces a layer of financial complexity through its “coin” system. Because the app requires a minimum deposit, students are coerced into a micro-subscription model.
If a student needs a $2.75 wash but their account holds a $1.50 balance, they must deposit another $10 to access their own money, an issue that Pelino ran into at the end of his freshman year before leaving the dorms.
For students calculating their remaining balance for the week, instances such as this represent a tangible loss in their purchasing power for other necessities such as transportation expenses.
