Students living in residence halls next fall should prepare to see a 25-cent rise in the cost of the university's on-campus laundry facilities.

In an effort to conserve energy and to keep the cost of housing contracts as low as possible, Housing and Food Services has decided to purchase new energy-efficient dryers for all of the residence halls on campus.

"We were at a point where dryers were reaching the end of their useful life," Lynn DuBois, the associate director of housing, said.

"Their life cycle is about seven to eight years and most of our dryers are at that point," she said.

In tandem with this decision, the university will alter the prices of using on-campus laundry facilities.

The cost of using a washing machine -- currently $1.75 -- will drop to $1.50, while the dryers, which are currently free, will charge 50 cents for 50 minutes of use.

"The extra 25 cents is to cover the increase in energy usage on campus and dryers are major energy consumers," DuBois said.

By implementing a cost to use the dryers, the university hopes to lower energy consumption by preventing students from running the dryers for longer than necessary.

As a result, the university's energy bill will be less expensive, which means Housing and Food Services will be able to charge less for housing contracts, said Becky Lantz, president of the Association of Residence Hall Students.

The rise will also make Penn State's costs comparable to other off-campus facilities, DuBois said.

"We feel we're still offering on-campus students a more economical option than off-campus students receive," DuBois said.

Beril Kumcuoglu (freshman-biochemistry and molecular biology) agreed with the university's decision.

"It's just a few cents," she said. "The outcome will be more important [than the rise in price]."

Joe Park (junior-recreation, park and tourism management) said he felt differently about the matter.

"I won't be happy because I do laundry one or two times a week, and it will add up to a lot of money," he said. "Students won't want to do their laundry at all."

Lantz said she hopes students will have a positive attitude about the new dryers. "I think it will probably be a culture shock that we have to start paying for our dryer time," Lantz said. "But I think if students understand this is to benefit the environment then I'd like to think that students will embrace the idea and work accordingly with it."