What Harvard's Free Laundry Rollout Revealed

This article summarizes reporting originally published by The Harvard Crimson.

A Harvard Crimson report describes the rollout of free undergraduate laundry at Harvard College, a policy change implemented at the start of spring semester 2026. Student response was largely positive, but the rollout also surfaced equipment and capacity issues that became visible as soon as the per-use cost was removed.

A New Funding Model

College Dean David J. Deming announced the policy in November, describing it as an attempt to "be more transparent about costs at the College." The change was funded by a $250 increase to the Student Activities Fee, and Harvard estimated the value of the bundled service at roughly $450 per student annually. Several students told the Crimson the change was overdue. "I think it was about time that we got free laundry," Baharullah Mahin '28 said. Hanah Kim '28 credited the policy for expanding access for lower-income students: "A lot of lower income students have also generally agreed this has actually changed a lot of their schedule for them."

A Demand Response and Its Consequences

Removing the per-use cost also changed how often students use the machines. "People are doing it a lot more frequently, and I think also a lot of people are trying to get their $450 worth of laundry, and the machines are a lot less available," Kim told the Crimson. Several students reported equipment problems they had not experienced before. "Half the machines in my house are now out of order at any given point in time. And I'm not really sure if that's related," said Amelie K. Zucker '28, a Dunster House resident. James T. Foss '29 described needing to "dry it four times for it to get dry," adding, "I didn't have this problem last semester." College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo acknowledged the early issues and told the Crimson that "particularly some of the older ones, that needed additional attention. All has been resolved."

Why It Matters

Harvard's experience offers an early look at what happens when a university removes the price signal from a shared residential resource. Students broadly welcomed the change, and the access argument is real, particularly for students from lower-income backgrounds. At the same time, the demand response surfaced strain on infrastructure that had been calibrated to a different usage pattern. Equipment that was already aging absorbed higher utilization the moment cost stopped being a deterrent, and capacity that worked under one set of incentives felt undersized under another. Funding models and physical infrastructure are separate levers, and changes to one can quickly expose the limits of the other.