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U.Va. expands system of laundry alerts

A laundry alert system recently expanded to be available campus-wide will allow University students to monitor the status of washers and dryers of school facilities from the comfort of their own computers.

According to Associate Chief Housing Officer Marshall Hunt, the service was available last year in the McCormick Road area as a "test," but was recently extended to all campus facilities with the exception of family housing.

A link on the Housing Web site allows students to select a particular facility and then check which machines are currently available and how much time remains in the cycle of machines already in use, Hunt said. In addition, students can ask to be notified via e-mail or text alert when a particular machine becomes available.

Kristen Gregory, a customer relations representative at Coldwell and Gregory Commercial Laundry Environmental Services, said her company supplies the washer and dryer equipment as well as the laundry alert service. In addition to the University, Coldwell and Gregory provides the service to 23 other schools.

While Gregory said the company charges a fee to the University for providing the service, this added expenditure will not be passed on to students.

"The University has made an investment [in this service] but the vend rate will not be increased," she said.

Hunt also emphasized that the new service will not mean increased costs for students.

"This will be part of the regular service," he said. "It will absolutely cost the same this year as last year -- [there are] no plans to increase laundry vend rates to accommodate the laundry alert system."

Overall, Gregory said she believes the system will offer an improved experience for users of the laundry alert system.

"We think the students are excited and they are really going to enjoy having [the system]," Gregory said.

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