Beginning in September, laundry will be free across Columbia.  Free laundry was debuted this morning in first year dorms and EC, and will expand to the rest of CU come September 12.

The possibility of free laundry was announced last semester at CCSC, where it was said that room and board costs would be raised by $30 to account for the free laundry.  Housing has since told us that there will be no additional room and board fees to fund free laundry.

Housing even released a swanky new video to explain the laundry system to naive first-years.  Watch for yourself below—but be sure to wait until the end to hear this very special announcement.

Update, 8/28/15: After reaching out to Housing, we learned that the free laundry will not apply to Barnard students unless they live in Columbia housing.  Free laundry has also begun today—several weeks ahead of schedule—in all dorms except Nussbaum.  Housing also told us that there will be no change to housing rates as a result of this change.  See their full response below.

Free laundry will only be open to students living in Columbia undergraduate residence halls. If Barnard students live in Columbia undergraduate buildings, then yes, they will have free laundry.

As of today, August 28, all undergraduate residence halls have free laundry (ahead of original projected date) with the exception of 600 W. 113th St. and Carlton Arms. Students assigned by Columbia Housing with a contract to live in 600 W. 113th and Carlton Arms will instead receive Smart Chip Cards loaded with a laundry allowance. LaundryView will be offline until further notice as we update our system.

There will be no change to housing rates in the future to cover laundry service. This initiative is funded out of summer conference and intern housing income.