This Thanksgiving break, Deerfield students from all over returned to a surprise in the laundry rooms. Beginning in July, Student Body President and Digital Managing Editor of the Scroll Jerry Huang ’23, the Student Life Office, and other administration members collectively made laundry more affordable. Previously, one load of laundry with hot water and drying could cost as much as five dollars. Now, it costs one cent. Chief Financial Officer Matthew Sheehy told the Scroll, “You know, students spending five dollars for a load of laundry roughly just didn’t feel right. So hence the [implementation of] ‘penny’ laundry.”
Former Student Body President Hugo Nutting ’22 and Former Student Council Chair Ford Holmen ’22 first proposed the idea of free laundry to Head of School John Austin during the 2021-2022 school year. In September 2022, Huang followed up on the policy with Assistant Head for Student Life Amie Creagh.
Huang said, “During my follow up meeting with Ms. Creagh, I was ecstatic to hear that Deerfield has no contractual restrictions with E&R regarding reducing laundry machine prices to one cent. Given that our laundry machines are owned by E&R, I was extremely surprised.” Mr. Sheehy explained the concept behind ‘penny’ laundry, saying, “If you set [the cost] to zero, then anybody could walk up.”
Once Deerfield sorted out the financial offsets, Mr. Sheehy brought vendors to reprogram the laundry machines that they leased. Though some machines were reprogrammed to charge one cent, others were set to free.
It’s still too early to fully understand the effects of “penny” laundry. Since Deerfield implemented the policy in the middle of the year, many students had already committed to laundry services like E&R. When asked about laundry, Annie Loring ’26 voiced gratitude for the newly implemented change. “Honestly, I would say one cent is pretty low,” she said. “Like what [the pricing] was before honestly wasn’t bad, but I feel like one cent is – it’s extremely [generous.]” While Mr. Sheehy wants students to use the laundry machines to their full advantage, he still wants them to remain conscious of their water and energy usage.
Deerfield is committed to the new laundry policy for the rest of the academic year, but Mr. Sheehy and his team, along with Ms. Creagh, will reassess it over the summer. Mr. Sheehy concluded, “My hope and goal is that it continues long term, removing the barrier to students doing their laundry, building that life skill, and doing all of those kinds of things on a regular basis.” The new laundry system is sure to impact energy consumption, water usage, and students’ ability to complete the basic life school, but only time will tell what lasting footprints this change will leave in the Deerfield campus.