Ohio State University will no longer charge its students a fee when using campus laundry facilities. The new policy is set to take effect for all on-campus students starting this fall semester.

According to student publication, The Lantern, the new policy will apply to all washers and dryers in university-run housing units, and will not assess no charge for use. In addition to laundry facilities in campus residence halls, washers and dryers in the Buckeye Village community center and Greek houses managed by Ohio State will also be free to use.

Under the old, paid model students used either coins or their BuckID -- OSU's student ID card -- and BuckID cash via a card reader. According to university housing, the previous cost per load of laundry was $1.50 to wash and $1.25 to dry. The decision to move to a free model was inspired in part by policies at other institutions.

“Some other universities have moved toward this, and so we looked very closely at what they were doing and how they were doing it,” says Dave Isaacs, an Ohio State University spokesperson. “We decided that this was something that we could do, and certainly it would be helpful and convenient to students, so we made the decision to go forward.”

Universities have a few options when it comes to charging students for laundry services, with the most common models including pay-per-use, pay-per-semester or the so-called complimentary service being implemented at Ohio State. The varying methods will each have their merits depending on the campus.

In our "Future of campus payments in campus laundry" coverage from 2017, we examined the factors that universities must consider when making this decision. Hear insights from numerous industry professionals as they compare and contrast the different laundry payment structures, and when each model is advisable.