As washing machines and dryers in Ithaca College residence halls have been consistently out of order in Fall 2025, students have expressed frustrations with the faulty laundry facilities, leaving them inconvenienced since their arrival at the college in August. 

The college outsources laundry machines from CSC ServiceWorks, a company that leases laundry and air services to individual homes, commercial businesses and universities. According to CSC ServiceWorks’ website, they are partnered with over 1,000 colleges and universities. The college’s previous contract with CSC began in 2016. The college’s initial seven-year contract with CSC ServiceWorks ended in May 2023. The college is still currently partnered with CSC after renewing the contract and reinstalling new washing machines and dryers. 

Sophomore Maggie Taplin, who lives in Eastman Hall, said she had not experienced a problem with laundry machines until Fall 2025. When trying to do her laundry on a weekly schedule, she said there were consistently at least two to three washing machines and four dryers out of order. In total, there are four washing machines and six dryers in Eastman Hall.

“It’s been very frustrating this entire semester,” Taplin said. “And you can’t really check the app because the app’s also not accurate.” 

Students can check machine availability through the CSCPay Mobile app, an application that allows users to receive notifications when a wash cycle has ended or when a machine is available. The machines are smart-linked to the app, using sensors and real-time cycle trackers. Due to the recent malfunctions, the app has become inaccurate, failing to show when machines are working or out of order. 

As a student-athlete on the college’s swimming and diving team, Taplin said it has been difficult to do her laundry with the limited time she has in her dorm. She said that she and her peers agree that the situation is troublesome.

In an email sent by Grace Dosdall, area coordinator for lower quads, students in Eastman Hall were given key card access to Bogart Hall to use its washing machines and dryers. Residents were given access to Bogart from Sept. 16 to Sept. 19. Taplin said her ID did not grant her access to the building. 

An email from the Office of Residential Life to students said that since the college outsources the laundry machines from CSC ServiceWorks, the Office of Facilities is not authorized to tend to maintenance requests. The email provides instructions for residents and resident assistants to submit maintenance requests directly to CSC ServiceWorks, who will send a representative to address the malfunctions. CSC has a local operational office in Syracuse.

CSC ServiceWorks did not respond to The Ithacan’s interview requests. 

Senior Jayna Simeon is an RA in Emerson Hall. She said in the past, there have been consistent issues with washers within Emerson. Residents have been advised to use the laundry facilities located in the Garden Apartments, making the Garden laundry rooms crowded. Simeon said that as an RA, there is no direct communication with the Office of Residential Life other than instruction to fill out the CSC maintenance forms. RAs are able to speak to members of the RA Advisory Board to voice their complaints.

Simeon said there was a period where she was constantly filling out maintenance request forms to CSC ServiceWorks during her RA on duty rounds. She said it seemed as though the representative was fixing the machines as fast as possible, not as effectively as they should have been for long-term function. 

“I just fill out the forms and do what I have to do,” Simeon said. “That’s the best I could do, personally, and it’s really just annoying.”

Jenny Pickett, associate director for operations and compliance for student affairs and campus life, used to work in the Office of Residential Life until September 2025. She said the college’s usual technician from CSC ServiceWorks has been on paternity leave and IC has been assigned a replacement representative. 

“We had a new rep who is not as communicative as the last person was,” Pickett said. “The folks in [Residential Life] that have picked up since I left, I think, have reached out to him and have had a similar experience of not being responsive.”

In Emerson Hall, Pickett said there had been a water valve that was turned off in the laundry room, preventing the correct amount of water from being spread among the nine machines. Once the valve was turned back on, the machines in Emerson Hall were resolved. 

“I have worked at IC for 25 years and this is the first time I’ve heard that,” Pickett said. “It feels like over the summer, somebody turned something off and nobody knew.” 

There have been several issues with faulty laundry machines since Spring 2024. The clothing fire in Holmes Hall, smoking washing machine in Terrace 3 and overheating clothes in Bogart Hall occurred after the college renewed its contract with CSC ServiceWorks.

Pickett also said the washing machines and dryers in the dorms are new. After IC renewed its contract with CSC ServiceWorks, laundry facilities have been updated across campus, beginning in March 2024. The Terraces Residence Halls were the first to be replaced; machines were switched from front-loaders to top-loaders because the Terrace buildings are not considered accessible residential buildings at the college. The remainder of the residence halls were updated in August 2024. 

Sophomore Kira Meehan, who lives in Terraces, said there are only three washing machines and four dryers for the entire building. Meehan said all of the machines were out of order for several weeks. 

“This year, in [Terrace] 10, we didn’t have laundry machines for probably a good two weeks,” Meehan said. “And we would have to use [Terrace] 11’s laundry room, which was down a hill, and then a few flights up, and then we had to bring all of our stuff up and down. It was just craziness.”

Meehan said that she did not think the college was doing enough to communicate with students about its plans to resolve the issues. 

“I feel like it was mostly on our [RA] to communicate with the college, which she did,” Meehan said. “She even said in our floor group chat that she had sent multiple emails, messages and phone calls to people to get it fixed, and they just weren’t giving her anything. They weren’t fixing anything. They weren’t giving her any information on when it would be fixed.”

The Office of Residential Life has been working with the representative from CSC ServiceWorks to address the issue for students. Pickett said the communication between the college and CSC ServiceWorks will be resolved in the future. 

“I think that it will be better when our regular technician is back from leave, just from a communication standpoint,” Pickett said.