As the midpoint of the fall semester at Syracuse University approaches, the student experience is under pressure. Students complain about unreliable Wi-Fi and 4 a.m. fire alarms, but a considerable number of these criticisms specifically revolve around services that students are obligated to pay for, such as on-campus parking and laundry.

SU should follow in the footsteps of many of its fellow academic institutions and make basic and necessary amenities and services free to students.

In recent years, many students, especially upperclassmen, have argued for free on-campus parking. An academic year parking pass can cost between $431 and $853.

With students living as far from main campus as the Westcott neighborhood and the costs of a parking pass so high, the student body arguing for free parking isn’t outrageous by any means. It’s logical. Free parking would help students allocate the limited funds they do have toward other things necessary to comfortably exist as a full-time student on a college campus.

Eva Suppa | Digital Design Editor

Another popular complaint about SU’s housing experience is the cost of laundry services. Each on-campus residence hall has multiple washers and dryers for students to use. It costs $1.50 per load to use a washer and $1.25 per load for dryers. Students can pay with coins or with money loaded onto their SUpercard Plus accounts.

The cost to use these services may seem minimal, but most students have to do laundry at least once a week, and with almost 30 weeks spent on campus each year, the change adds up.

“Their goal is to make money,” said freshman Danny Cavalier.

But does Syracuse really need your five quarters after they’ve already charged you up to $74,799 to attend school here?

“It’s outrageous that we have to pay for laundry since tuition is so expensive to start with,” said Ana Baez, a Flint Hall resident assistant.

It is necessary for students to have clean clothes.

According to the Office of Admissions, the 2019-2020 cost of attendance for students enrolled prior to fall 2018 includes a $16,272 direct cost for housing and meals. If laundry services are found within the on-campus residence halls themselves — an essential component of living in campus housing— then they should be included in this portion of a student’s annual tuition.

Multiple colleges and universities across the country have shifted to a free laundry system for students. Ohio State University, University of Albany, University of Buffalo and Columbia University, among others, have realized that laundry isn’t an extra cost students should have to incur, but an integral part of their living on campus.

Syracuse University takes pride in explaining to donors, perspective students and families that students’ well-being is the administration’s number one priority. Syracuse University does offer its students great academic and social services like tutoring, academic planning, counseling, gym access and even pet therapy, to name a few. These services help students succeed and improve well-being, but there are also expenses that currently just burden students. SU can do better to recognize which services are essential to their students’ living on campus and reevaluate if they really need to be charging students for that.

Christian Andreoli is a freshman history major. His column appears bi-weekly. He can be reached at ctandreo@syr.edu. He can be followed on Twitter at @candreoli12.

Published on October 2, 2019 at 11:03 pm