Bringing laundry back into the fold of the cost of living debate

Laundry at university is one of those things that really irks students – at least it did for me in my first year.

And not irk in the sense that you don’t expect to have to do chores when you live away from home which is a position undoubtedly held by some, but an irk in the sense that you’re limited in options as to how much you spend on laundry.

Doing your washing is a necessity to avoid social embarrassment, for good hygiene and is fundamentally a matter of self-respect and self-care. Yet it costs a lot.

SUs talk a lot about the rising cost of living and have come up with myriad ways to help students cope with skyrocketing inflation. Things like subsidised food, discounted travel passes, swap shops and student pantries are a staple now.

But spending on laundry seems to strike at something deeper for students. There’s a psychological barrier here with the intimacy of hygiene and cleanliness and a social embarrassment associated with it. Laundry costs are often extortionate and needs bringing into the fold of the cost of living debate.

Airing it all out

Research by York SU painted a starker picture of students’ laundry woes that go beyond just being shocked or taken off guard by the new realities of independent living.

It’s that of stress, a sense of injustice and a sense that every aspect of “getting by” at university incurs some price significantly above cost.

Open text responses from students reflected some broad themes of making a cost-benefit analysis, worrying about affordability to the point of just wearing dirty clothes, and how they felt it was unjust – that being clean should just be a given. Nursing and midwifery students in particular noted how frustrating washing felt at times.

Students infamously make choices between “heating or eating,” but the choice has always been more complicated than that. There are a multitude of hidden participation costs that impact student engagement, both with their course and with the wider student experience.

But I can’t help worrying about an increasing number of students who rarely step foot on campus and instead rely on lecture recordings to complete their degree and that not being able to afford to have clean clothes is a genuine barrier.

Taken for a spin

Some students have to wash clothes far more often than others. Our survey revealed 17 per cent of students had to wash their clothes twice per week, adding up to over £400 a year.

Those who play sports have to wash their clothes more, students on clinical placement need to do frequent, sterile hot washes. Disabled students, carers or those with health conditions often need to wash their clothes more often and incur all the extra costs that come with it.

There’s active choices students can make, provided they have the time, energy and social capital to do so, to bring down their food costs. They can make budget meals, batch cook or sacrifice on nutrition with poorer quality foods. With laundry, there is no such choice with campus laundry outlets and I’d be curious to see the profit margins of managed laundry for universities.

At York, laundry is £5.10 per wash and dry, going up to £5.60 for a “standard” if you want your clothes properly cleaned. Those with washing machines in their house or flat merely need to pay around 45p in energy and 5p in detergent for a wash.

Going round in circles

The managed laundry company that controls around 75 per cent of university accommodation laundry services, Circuit Laundry, is a for-profit company that in 2022 generated £3.6 million in profits from £40 million in revenue.

Circuit Laundry sets a minimum price, and universities can set their own price above that to generate income.

Given the ongoing financial fragility of the HE sector, I would say commercial services arms shouldn’t be crucified for trying to make a profit (context dependent). On-campus cafes often have budget options and access to free hot water, coffee, tea and warm spaces helps to cultivate a “sticky campus,” however much we hate the term. Universities are recognising the inequity of provision on campuses and taking actions to address it, but barriers to laundry are stripping students of the social confidence to utilise them.

Managed laundry is a profit driver for some universities. The counter argument would be that profits are reinvested into the university but I’d argue that to derive profit from what is fundamentally a monopoly laundry service for something that generates a significant amount of psychological distress for students seems wholly unjust and easily addressable.

Universities across England don’t all have such high laundry costs. In the Russell Group, only Queens Mary London and Warwick (two of the most expensive cities to live in in England mind you) beat York, both at £5.20 (York comes out on top for the “standard” wash).

But Universities like Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol all manage to provide laundry services significantly cheaper ranging from £3.10 to £2.10 in total.

These aren’t ubiquitous across all the university halls at these universities and funnily enough it’s those that use competitor providers like Washnet that provide the (far) cheaper service.

These are also private companies and with that they will be seeking profit.

Universities need to take laundry services in-house to have more control over their income generation to ensure price-above-cost is minimal and offer something of a “cushion” especially during the first few hectic (and expensive weeks) of university.

Universities like Sheffield and Bucks offer “laundry packs” that provide students with an allocation of free washes before they have to start paying. This way, students have a choice on whether, and when, they scrimp and save on laundry rather than an incentive to wash as little as humanly possible. And beyond that allocation, prices of up to £5.20 per wash and dry feel out of reach for most students.

For-profit laundry services are a tax on hygiene that puts students in unthinkable positions of choosing clean clothes or food in bellies. We’ve certainly normalised the cost of living crisis for students but now is the time to change that.