ASG unanimously passed a bill to lower laundry prices in the residence halls last Tuesday.
After comparing the $3.50 Miami University students are paying per load to other Ohio public universities, which only charge between $2.50 to $3 per load, two senators saw no reason for the higher prices.
Jasmine Adkins, First District Senator, was the original creator of the bill, and Craig Beuerlein, Third District Senator, joined later to help her with research and the writing of the proposal.
"I saw the price like 'this is kind of expensive for washing and drying,'" Beuerlein said. "So really for me it was holding the university accountable."
Some students, such as first year Gabi Perez, find other ways to avoid the high costs of doing laundry in their halls.
"What I do is I usually bring most of my clothes here to college, and after about 3 to 4 weeks, I go home, and I wash them all and bring them back," Perez said. "I just find it easier than spending money that I could use for something else to go and wash my clothes here."
Adkins started investigating laundry prices because of confusion regarding what students' money is going toward. Since there is only one water and electricity meter per building, it is impossible to determine the separate cost for running the washers.
"In our room and board fee, we are already paying for the cost of utilities for our building, which means that we're already paying for the cost of laundry in the sense that we're paying for water and electricity," Adkins said.
Beuerlein called the company that sells Miami the laundry machines, thinking that maybe the cost covers repairs. However, he was told that repairs are paid for in the original contract.
A resolution to be more clear when listing fees was included in the bill, so students know exactly what they are paying for.
Since ASG passed the bill, the students are now working to make these changes occur.
"Writing a bill doesn't necessarily say that a change will go into effect," Adkins said. "It's saying that we, the student body, and we, the representatives of the student body, would support this change happening. So, now that we've passed it, we can start talking to administration and saying, 'This is what the student body wants. This is everything that we've found. How can we made this happen?'"
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