By Emily R. Condon

Students in seven dorms returned to campus in January to find that their laundry machines had a new payment method.

CSC Go is the new system that allows students to start machines and pay for laundry cycles through an app on their phones rather than using quarters or a machine that accepts Terrapin Express. 

According to Kelly Ridings, Senior Manager of Administrative Services in the Department of Residential Facilities, CSC has been installed in the following dorms: Pyon-Chen Hall, Easton Hall, Denton Hall, Carroll Hall, Caroline Hall, Hagerstown Hall and La Plata Hall.

The machines are being installed on a “case by case basis” depending on which dorms need it the most, according to Ridings. The department does not intend to install CSC Go in every dorm this semester.

“Our current laundry vendor has been working with us to install CSC Go payment systems on machines when we have Terrapin Express readers go down,” said Ridings.

Freshman Ian Blumberg, a computer engineering major in Easton Hall, said he likes how the timing is more accurate with the new system. He is aware that the price is the same but finds the inability to use Terrapin Express to be a downside.

“It is slightly annoying that I can no longer use Terrapin Express to pay for it and now have to use my credit card,” stated Blumberg.

Kayla Abosch, a freshman psychology and criminology double-major, lives in Pyon-Chen Hall. She, like Blumber, said that she dislikes not being able to use Terrapin Express. Abosch also explained that she experienced difficulties with the app.

“The app is fine, but we have been having trouble with one dryer that always says that it is taken. However, it is clearly not,” Abosch shared.

The university’s current laundry contract is nearing its end, so the Department of Residential Facilities is working to make laundry fees included in student housing next year, according to Ridings. This way, residents will not have to pay each time at the machine, Ridings said.