“We cannot stress this enough; DO NOT let your children sign any housing agreements to live on the beach until they have received off campus housing!” This a line in a letter sent home to the parents of sophomores who attend Fairfield University.
The letter is from Fairfield’s housing operations office, explaining that this is the time of year when landlords rent their houses on the beach, and that students should be careful because they are not guaranteed off-campus housing.
It would seem that the Fairfield housing office would appreciate the efforts of students volunteering to live off-campus, because it makes it easier to fit people into the townhouses without forcing juniors into dorms.
“The school is trying to cover their selves,” said Jack Foley, father of Jilliam Foley, ’05. If they grant too many people off-campus housing and they don’t have enough people to live in their facilities then they are out a ton of money. There was no reason for that note other than to create a problem between students and their parents.”
Asking parents for permission to live on the beach is a delicate process. Most landlords want over half the money upfront in order to ensure that students will not back out.
When the letter landed in parents’ mailboxes, many students’ hopes and dreams of living on the beach their junior year were shattered.
“We were one day from signing for a house when my parents got the letter and vetoed the idea right away,” said Liz Courtney, ’05. “I explained it to them and finally got them to understand the situation, but by then the house was sold to another group of girls. Since then we have not been able to find another house. Once the houses on the beach are gone, they are gone. After that there is only the hope that we will get into the townhouses.”
But, is it really that unlikely a sophomore student will not be granted off campus housing?
The answer seems to be no.
“I have never ever heard of a person applying for off campus housing and not getting it. They [Fairfield housing] have to let the students off, or else they will not be able to fit the upcoming freshman class,” a junior RA in the dorms said. “Personally I would not worry about it. I would worry more about getting a house on the beach before someone else does.”
Juniors, for the most part, are guaranteed off-campus housing when they apply for it in their junior year, but sophomores are left to only hope and pray.
Students are either granted off-campus housing and then find a house on the beach, or they are stuck in the lottery for a townhouse, which for many juniors means ending up in the dorms again.
The race for beach houses is a swift and intimidating one. In order to obtain a decent house for the next academic year a student has to begin looking during the previous fall.
“My friends and I decided that there was no way we were going to risk not getting a townhouse and being stuck in the dorms again,” said Jilliam Keene, ’05. “There is only a 40 percent chance we will get a townhouse. The first thing we did when we got back here was find a house and put down a payment on it.”
According to Fran Koerting, director of Residence Life, as of right now, housing operations has no idea how many students they are going to let off-campus nor do they know what they are going to do about the townhouses.
Five- and seven-person houses will still exist for next year because the size of the Class of 2004 remains a concern.
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