In a damning indictment of the student cost-of-living crisis, undergraduates at the University of York are being forced to choose between buying food and washing their clothes, as laundry costs skyrocket to punitive levels.

The University of York Students' Union (York SU) has blown the whistle on what they term a "hygiene tax." With a single wash-and-dry cycle in university accommodation now costing up to £5.60 (approx. KES 1,100), clean clothes have become a luxury item. For a student on a tight budget, that sum represents a meal, a transport fare, or a day’s worth of heating.

"I Use My Savings to Wash"

The human toll of these prices is stark. Cathy Hamilton, a 20-year-old psychology student, revealed she is dipping into her savings just to afford basic hygiene. "I was having to pull money out of savings in order to afford to do my washing," she confessed. It is a sentence that should not exist in a developed economy.

The crisis is exacerbated by the monopoly of service providers like Circuit Laundry, whose prices are significantly higher than local commercial laundromats. Students report:

• Rationing Hygiene: Students are wearing clothes longer than they should, or hand-washing in sinks, to avoid the machines.
• The Gender Penalty: Female students note that the costs hit them harder due to the increased laundry needs associated with menstruation.
• Drying Dilemma: Many are skipping the drying cycle (£1.80) and drying clothes in their damp rooms, risking mold and health issues.

A Global Struggle

While this story comes from the UK, it resonates globally. From Nairobi to New York, the "hidden costs" of education are rising. Tuition is just the entry fee; the cost of survival—rent, food, laundry—is the real barrier. When a student has to calculate the opportunity cost of clean socks, the system is fundamentally broken.

The University claims it is "committed to providing competitive prices," but the math doesn't add up for the students. As inflation bites, the basic dignity of cleanliness is being priced out of reach, turning the university experience into a grim lesson in survival economics.