As she walked into the laundry facility inside of the Campus Village Building B, while cradling her sack of messy laundry, this student was disappointed, but not surprised to see a bunch of washing machines out of order.
Accounting sophomore Vanessa Armendariz said, “It’s frustrating having washers being broken all the time.”
The common issue among students is not only high dorm costs, but also not having adequate facilities such as working washing machines.
A post on the SAMMY app gave students the platform to discuss issues regarding on campus housing.
User Talia DuBois said, “For the longest time my water temp in the shower was either hot as Satan or as cold as the arctic.”
Following DuBois’ reply, other students took to the app to share that they too had been victims of little-to-no-hot water in the dorm showers, despite the outstanding rates of rent.
Approximately 14 washing machines, as of yesterday, in the Campus Village Building B laundry room have been labeled “out of order” despite various students being assigned to the particular laundry unit.
Psychology junior Sam Mayes claimed that although there are more washers available to use, various machines do not work properly.
“We’re paying for the amenities and the laundry room [with our renting fees], but you still have to pay to use them,” Mayes said.
The university mandates that students pay a fee to access the washing machines in the dorm units, however Mayes said he is frustrated that his money is going toward facilities that don’t work.
“I’ve ruined clothing and I had to spend money to get clothing done somewhere else, when it is something I’m already paying for with my rent,” he said.
South Bay Tenants Assembly member Jugu Sandhu shared her thoughts about universities not only worrying about enough housing for students, but providing appropriate environments as well.
“We also have to consider that housing is a basic human right and it’s a necessity,” Sandhu said. “So it should be something that is clean and safe for the students.”
Kinesiology junior Victoria Forrester said that students who are making efforts to make on-time rent payments should at least get the bare minimum housing accommodations.
“We got a bug infestation in our dorm. We noticed them last semester in October and now we found them recently too,” Forrester said. “Probably because of the cold.”
Students have lost hope in the university’s housing to fix any problems within the dorms because of their requests not being met.
“We don’t even report it as much anymore because they never do anything about it,” Forrester said.
Anthropology junior Danielle Celona said when she did contact the school about the state of the washing machines, housing didn’t help her as much as she would have wanted.
“When I contacted the school about the washers being broken, they had me call the company. We have to spend our time when it’s their job,” Celona said.
While rent control continues to be a major issue impacting California, students who live on campus feel they deserve proper living arrangements because of the extensive amount of money they pay.
“Why are we paying all this money when [Housing Services doesn’t] help us when we need it?” Forrester said.
According to San Jose State Housing Services, the starting rate for a studio apartment in Campus Village Building B for the spring 2019 semester was $7,647.
Meanwhile, the starting rate for the same studio space in the spring 2014 semester was $5,817.
“I work at the Village Market to pay my rent because it’s not covered all the way by [financial aid],” Forrester said.
CVB residents often find themselves paying an inflated amount of rent yet the facilities that are supposed to be included are not accessible for use.
Jonathan Austin and Jaileane Aguilar contributed reporting to this story.
