'I have to use savings to afford to use university laundrette'

The cost of doing laundry at a university is so expensive that students are choosing between eating or washing their clothes, a union has claimed.

University of York Students' Union (York SU) said washing and drying clothes in university-owned accommodation costs £5.10 per load.

Sam Dickinson, wellbeing officer at the union, said this was £2.10 more expensive per wash than the fees at nearby York St John University and added: "Everyone deserves to have clean clothes and high laundry prices are a barrier to that."

A spokeperson for York University said the organisation was "committed to providing high-quality, competitively priced laundry services".

Cathy Hamilton, 20, said she spent up to £20 per week on laundry during her first year.

"I was having to pull money out of savings in order to afford to do my washing," said the second-year psychology student.

"It is crazy the amount that we are having to pay."

First-year history student Ellie May Quigley said she tried to do fewer loads of laundry because of the expense.

However, she added: "We can't avoid doing our washing, because you've got to wash your clothes.

"No-one wants to go around stinking."

She said she chose not to use the drying service, which costs £1.80 per cycle, instead opting to hang her clothes up to dry in her bedroom.

"It feels like I'm just a money maker for the university."

The costs hit female students particularly hard, she said, as they often needed to do more laundry when they had their period.

Dickinson carried out a survey of students at Russell Group universities across the UK to compile a report into the cost of laundry services at the university.

He said high laundry prices at York added to an already high cost of living for students in the city.

"Students are being forced to not wear clean clothes and I think that's just not fair, it's a matter of dignity at university," he said.

The cost paid by students at the University of York was made up of a base rate set by the provider, Circuit Laundry, added to an amount determined by the university, Dickinson explained.

He said the cost of on-campus laundry at neighbouring York St John University was only £3, partly because it used a different provider.

Second-year child nursing student Erin Moore said people on her course had to do additional laundry, because of the uniforms required.

"Nursing students are heavily disadvantaged by high laundry costs," she said, adding that extra washing was "essential for our degree".

Moore, 20, said that although nursing students were provided with four uniforms, they were advised not to travel to their placement in uniform, so had to wash a white tunic and navy trousers for every shift, as well as the clothes they wore on their commute.

"It's not very fair that there are nursing students down the road at York St John who don't have to pay as much for their washing," she said.

"The cost really adds up over time.

"Such high prices for laundry create added financial pressure, in an already expensive city."

A University of York spokesperson said they recognised the pressures faced by students associated with the cost of living.

They said the current laundry rates remained "significantly lower than local commercial laundrettes and rank in the lower half of the 86 universities served by Circuit."

The spokesperson said the contract with Circuit Laundry was awarded after a process that the students' union was involved with and that prices for a wash and dry had risen by only 10p since 2019.

Circuit Laundry said it worked with more than 90% of universities across the UK as the leading student laundry provider.

"We set pricing on a site by site basis," a spokesperson said.

"Our aim is to keep charges significantly below nearby high street launderettes, and that's why pricing will vary across the country."

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