With it being my first year at USI, I was not accustomed to doing my laundry on campus. 

After learning where the laundry facilities were located for on-campus apartments, I decided to check it out. I went to the laundry room located in the community center since it was the closest one to my apartment. 

My first impression was that it seemed to be spacious. All the machines were lined up nicely and there was even a table to fold your laundry.

There was the C-Store and Archie’s Pizzeria right there if students wanted to grab something to eat while waiting for their laundry. However, I was surprised to see that there were only three parking spots for students who were doing their laundry. Not only were there only three spots close to the laundry room, but they also had a 1-hour limit.

Last week I was unable to do my laundry at home, so I needed to do it on campus for the first time. After the experience, I found that I would much rather take it home to do.

There was only one washing machine left for me to use when I went in. It said it would take 28 minutes and after the time it took to get my clothes in, that was over half my time for the parking spot. I didn’t want to drive back and forth or risk losing my spot for easy access. 

By the time my clothes were ready to go in the dryer, it had 45 minutes on it and I had to decide whether to leave or not. That was now longer than the 1-hour limit for the parking spot. I heard about the stealing that had happened and noticed a sign on the door. It says to not leave our clothes unattended and that the school is not liable for any lost or stolen materials. 

Though this sign is in place, there is no seating in the actual laundry room, so unless we stand around for over an hour waiting, we are technically forced to leave our clothes unattended while we wait in the lounge or move our cars after the hour limit. 

Students who are not able to get a parking spot must hopefully get one on the other side of the building, or walk from their apartments, carrying heavy baskets and supplies. 

I believe the school needs to accommodate more parking for students or create more laundry facilities. If there were more parking spots, then more students could drive to the building and not have to lug their laundry around. 

Other students could also avoid feeling as if they are doing something wrong when they don’t move their cars after the time limit because they don’t want to leave their belongings behind. Since we are unable to watch over our laundry in the room the entire time, maybe it would be helpful if the school provided locks that students could check out and return. 

By creating a system like that, students could feel like the university was taking the precautions needed to ensure our safety and peace of mind. Without the proper form of security, students cannot be expected to take on full responsibility for stolen materials when there is no way for us to oversee what is happening in the laundry room the entire time.

I believe if the school took some of these issues into consideration, it would help make doing laundry on campus a better experience for everyone.