Freshman year of college is a time of abrupt change and adaptation. It’s probably your first time living away from home, surrounded by new people in a new environment. While it can be fun to make new friends, it can also be stressful if you feel that you haven’t found “your people” yet. Not to mention, you’re also learning to juggle a full schedule of college-level courses with extracurricular activities like sports or clubs. With all of this in mind, it’s hard to believe that you should be starting to think about your senior-year living situation.
Fairfield University has a long-standing tradition of living on the beach during your final year. This tradition is what draws many applicants to the school, including myself. Before I even committed to Fairfield, I dreamed of living on the beach with friends I hadn’t yet met, and this certainly swayed my decision between Fairfield and Marist.
Flash forward and I’m currently a senior living in The Point area of Fairfield Beach. It feels like I was just an underclassman, worried about finding a beach house before they were all rented out. If you’re a freshman worried you’re already too late, you’re not. I think freshman year is far too early to be stressing about where you’re going to live three years from now. Freshman year is for finding your place at Fairfield and making it your home. Home isn’t just a place, it’s the people you surround yourself with. It’s more important to spend time finding the perfect people for you, than the perfect house. Wherever you end up living will be perfect with the right people.
In my experience, we signed a lease in October of our sophomore year. We started reaching out to landlords in September and toured multiple houses. It’s important to have a conversation with your future roommates about your budget, as these houses can be pricey. In recent years, the demand for beach houses has increased with the growing class sizes and popularity of Fairfield beach living on social media. This has allowed landlords to increase the amount they charge for rent. My own landlord admitted he had increased the rental price of our home due to this demand, though he wouldn’t disclose by how much.
While it may not seem like it, it can be financially worth it to live on the beach. The alternative to beach living senior year is living on campus in Barnyard, a townhouse or an apartment-style dorm. The annual tuition for a single room in any of these accommodations is currently $17,830, followed by $15,910 for a double room. My current rent at the beach is $80,000 for the school year, divided amongst four roommates. Before utilities, this is $16,000 each, which is about as much as we’d be paying for a double room on campus.
Living on the beach has other financial benefits for me including the amount of money in Ubers I save by walking to the Seagrape. However, it’s not always the case that it’s a bargain to live on the beach. In conversations with current freshmen, I learned that landlords are asking for upwards of $115,000 for homes on Reef Road and $200,000 on Fairfield Beach Road. While this cost is split amongst six to eight people, it would still be more expensive than any on-campus housing options.
I think it’s smart to keep in mind whether or not you wish to live on the beach and start having conversations with friends about it freshman year. You can always start putting feelers out, but it’s not time to stress. Houses including my own tend to be rented out two years in advance, so there’s still time. Additionally, if you’re a sophomore or junior and recently decided you want to live on the beach, there’s always a way. In my own case, we signed our lease with three people and later in sophomore year found a fourth roommate who was looking to join a house. Not only did it help reduce our rent, it also created a new friendship!
It’s a privilege to live on the beach, but if you’re able to, I highly recommend it. It’s unusual for seniors in college to look outside their window and see the Long Island Sound and I feel so lucky to experience this. Regardless of where you end up living, at the beach or on campus, you will have a great senior year if you’re surrounded by the right people. So as a freshman, focus on building friendships rather than stressing about your future living plans.