UF freshman Taylor Dariarow lugged her overflowing laundry basket down the stairs of Buckman Hall and across the courtyard to the Murphree Common Area.
When she arrived at the laundry room, shared by five dormitories, she said she was disappointed to see that all of the washing machines were full.
Dariarow's plight represents many campus residents who have been frustrated by wait times in campus laundry rooms.
The University of Virginia and other universities may have found a solution to this problem with the Laundry Alert program.
The program, which was spotlighted Tuesday by National Public Radio, allows students to go online and see the number of open washers and dryers for 20 campus laundry facilities.
The University of California, Los Angeles; the University of San Diego; and Trinity University in San Antonio also provide the system for students.
UVA students can also request to be notified via text message when their laundry is done.
Ory Streeter, area coordinator of UVA's Office of Residence Life, said the system has not solved all of UVA's laundry problems.
"When it's busy, the online system just isn't reliable," he said.
Streeter said Laundry Alert provides accurate reports of available machines, but the number can change quickly due to high demand.
"By the time students get from the computer to the laundry room, the machines may already be in use," he said.
Sharon Blansett, spokeswoman for UF's Department of Housing and Residence Education, wrote in an e-mail that UF piloted a program similar to UVA's about seven years ago.
The system, called Laundrimate, was available in Springs and Lakeside residential complexes and Rawlings and Jennings halls.
However, she said, students did not like the program.
"It promised a bit more that it actually delivered," Blansett wrote. The system was unable to calculate the "human factor" of laundry, she wrote.
"The machines are not actually available until others get their clothes out - not just when the machines are off," she wrote.
Blansett wrote that if students were interested, UF would look into reinstating the service again.
Dariarow said she thinks students would take advantage of a system similar to Laundry Alert because it would make doing laundry more time-efficient.
Doing laundry during off-peak hours - when students are typically in class or after midnight - usually eliminates the wait for machines but is not always convenient, she said.
"Even when clothes are done, people leave them in a machine," she said.
