Starting in the 2020 Spring semester, UIS students are being offered free laundry across campus. Starting this January, students will no longer require an i-card to do their laundry at all. As of January 13, all they have to do is enter the number for a machine they are trying to use. This transition was initially announced by Residence Life director Brian Kelly in an email sent out at the start of the semester. This email did cover some of the reasoning for this implementation, but the surprise announcement has left some questions unanswered.

When reached for comment on the choice to implement this initiative this year, Kelly elaborated on why this change seemingly came out of the blue. According to Kelly, plans for free laundry were already in the works for the Fall 2020 semester. This plan would have involved reallocation of the 2021 fiscal year’s budget in order to prevent a rise in housing costs. After receiving multiple complaints from students regarding issues with the current laundry pay system, a decision was made to reallocate portions of the current budget for this semester. Whether or not this change will affect student fees in the future is currently unclear. Kelly concluded his comments claiming that Residence Life hopes “this initiative will help each student whom [sic] lives on-campus feel a bit more at home with Residence Life at UIS.”

As of now, Residence Life has promised that the Laundry View service will continue to be offered. As long as the service is still active, students should have no problems remembering to move their laundry. If students still have remaining Campus Cash, it can be used at vending machines around campus and at the Student Union. To ask further questions about this change, contact Residence Life by email at [email protected] or by phone at (217) 206-6190.