Some Harvard Students Are Excited for Free Laundry. With Higher Fees, Others Think It’s a Wash.

When Matthew D. Zhang ’27 learned last Thursday that laundry would be free for undergraduates starting next semester, he was “really excited about it because I do laundry really often,” he said.

But as Zhang continued to read Dean of Harvard College David J. Deming’s emailed announcement, he realized the Student Activities Fee would increase by $250 to finance the initiative, and his excitement faded.

“I kept reading, and I saw the $450 fee,” he said. “I was like, ‘Damn. I think that might be a net financial loss for me personally.’”

Deming emailed the College last week announcing that laundry will be free for undergraduates beginning Jan. 1. In the same message, Deming also announced that the SAF — which funds House Committees, the Harvard Undergraduate Association, and College-wide events — would rise to $450 and become mandatory.

In interviews with The Crimson, more than 20 students said they were excited about the free laundry, but they worried that the jump in the SAF outweighed the money they would save.

“I don’t think I spend $200 on laundry a year,” said August C. Damiani ’28, a Crimson Technology associate. “The financials of it are such that it’s not actually as good of a deal as they’re painting it to be.”

Earlier this semester, the cost of laundry rose by 25 cents to $1.75 per load after the College switched to the One Tap Away app for its payment system. According to Deming’s email, students at the College spent more than $500,000 collectively on laundry last year. Laundry fees funded House Committees, which organize social events for Harvard’s 12 undergraduate Houses.

Neither laundry costs nor the SAF are currently covered by financial aid. Deming’s email promised that the College “will work to ensure this change does not materially increase costs for students receiving financial aid,” but a College spokesperson declined last week to provide further details on how the financial aid would account for the increased SAF.

Under Harvard College’s financial aid policy, students under a certain family income threshold qualify for coverage of billed expenses that include fees.

Still, many students expressed uncertainty about how the SAF hike would affect college costs for financial aid recipients. Harrison R. Warfel ’26 said that the flexibility of being able to decide whether to pay the SAF was important to him and other students receiving financial aid.

“To more than double it and then say, ‘Oh, but we’re giving you this other thing for free’ really feels like a slap in the face of the student body,” he said.

A College spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

Sophia A. Raines ’27, who receives full financial aid, said she had not received any official communication from the College about whether she will have to pay the $450 fee, though she assumed her package would cover it.

“It’s not like students are spending $200 on laundry, so I can see how that’s upsetting if you’re not on full financial aid,” she said. “But it doesn’t strongly affect me either way. This seems great.”

HUA co-president Caleb N. Thompson ’27 said that in a meeting with Deming, he advocated for a proportional inclusion of the SAF into financial aid packages — such that students receiving full financial aid would not pay the SAF.

“There’s a balance and I think that balance is best struck when we have a Student Activities Fee that is incorporated into financial aid for those who are not able to pay,” Thompson said.

According to Thompson, the largest group to opt out of paying the SAF were students whose tuition was covered fully by financial aid, “but the second largest group was actually students at the very, very top income brackets.”

“That was seen, by the administration and also by members of the student government, as being a little bit unfair for students who were doing very well financially,” Thompson added.

Other students said that the increased SAF was not too drastic a change relative to the College’s nearly $90,000 tuition price tag.

“The amount of tuition I’m paying right now — this is a pretty small amount in comparison,” William J. Gao ’28 said. “I don’t really mind as much, but I’d imagine for some folks, an extra $250 or so is probably not so trivial.”

Students said they hope that the increased fee will mean more funding for student organizations and improvements to events like Harvard’s annual spring concert Yardfest.

“I do expect a lot from the student activities here, so I am hoping to see more improvement in that area after this change,” Samantha H. Park ’29 said.

“I do also hope that we get better performers, since they’ll have some more money to dish out,” Cole Butcher ’29 said.

Arjun Purohit ’25-’26, who said he appreciated previous Yardfest headliners, said he was doubtful that the fee increase would allow the College to bring bigger stars to the concert.

“Unless they’re planning on getting Taylor Swift and Travis to come and hold their wedding at Yardfest, I’m not sure who else they can host,” he said.

“I don’t think that the activities on campus will actually improve from increasing the Student Activities Fee,” Devin Guevara ’25 said. “Over my four years that I’ve been here, I feel like campus culture and student activities haven’t really been a priority for the College.”

At Sunday’s HUA meeting, Thompson said that the HUA’s SAF allocation “will almost surely go up significantly next year.”

Seniors pointed out that, financially, they received the best bargain: free laundry for the spring semester, without having to pay an increased SAF in the fall.

“As a senior, I personally don’t really care just because it benefits me the most, considering it’s going to be free next semester,” Melanie Sanchez ’26 said. “It’s kind of like, ‘Good luck to everybody else.’”

Purohit said that free laundry might drive up demand for already limited machines.

“Everyone’s gonna start doing their laundry all the time,” he said. “There’s gonna be big lines. It’s gonna be like the line outside of Tatte Sunday at brunch.”

—Staff writer Darcy G Lin can be reached at [email protected].

—Staff writer Wyeth Renwick can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @wzrenwick.

—Staff writer Nirja J. Trivedi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @nirjatriv.