Link: Fairfield University Home
Home > Student Life > Office of the Dean of Students > Selected Communications > Letter to Parents about Beach Housing for 2007-2008
Link: About FairfieldLink: AdmissionLink: AcademicsLink: AthleticsLink: Student LifeLink: Arts & EnrichmentLink: Service at Fairfield


Letter to Parents about Beach Housing for 2007-2008

October 2006

Dear Parents of the Classes of 2008 and 2009,

Even though the 2006-07 is still in its early stages, some of your sons and daughters are already planning for their junior or senior year. This letter is sent to let you know about options for prospective juniors and seniors at Fairfield University. While I hope that you will find all the information in this letter helpful, I want to draw your particular attention to those items regarding the signing of off-campus leases, and how potential changes in the academic calendar for the upcoming 2007-2008 academic year should be taken into consideration when signing such leases.

All housing at Fairfield is selected by lottery, based upon the seniority of the class (e.g. juniors before sophomores and sophomores before freshmen). Allow me to share the following information with you so that you can have well-informed discussions with your sons and daughters:

  • All resident students are required to remain resident students for the duration of their undergraduate careers at Fairfield unless they are released from that obligation by the University. Such a release can come in two ways. The first is a release to commuter status, which means that the student lives with his or her parents, and the home is within a reasonable driving distance to the campus. The second release is a granting of off-campus status, which allows the student to arrange for housing in the local area, independent of Fairfield University. The lottery for off-campus border status is conducted later in this fall semester. On-campus housing lotteries are conducted during the spring. Most of our students who are granted off-campus status choose to rent homes in the Fairfield beach area. Once a student is released to off-campus status, the University has no further obligation to house that student.
  • Juniors and seniors living on campus have three options available to them on a space-available basis: townhouses, apartments, and residence halls. In terms of residence halls, the primary options are Kostka and Claver Halls which provide suite-style accommodations. Two double rooms share one bathroom, and juniors and seniors living on campus have greater flexibility with their meal plans. Juniors and seniors can also choose to live in a single room in Dolan Hall, or they can apply to be an RA for one of the residence halls on campus.
  • Juniors are not guaranteed their first choice of housing, as the University will not release students to live off campus if the allotted slots have been taken by seniors. Students living in residence halls are required to have a full meal plan (there are various plan options), while students living in the townhouses, apartments, or off campus are not required to have a meal plan. However, these students may purchase a partial meal plan.
  • The townhouse complex consists of two and three bedroom houses, accommodating either 5 or 7 students. One of the bedrooms in each house accommodates three students. The houses have two livable floors (except for the handicapped units), a basement for storage only, a kitchen, dining area, living room, and one and a half baths. The three bedroom houses have two showers while the two bedroom houses have one. There is one network connection per person assigned to the house, and local phone service, voice mail, and cable television are provided. All units are air-conditioned with temperature controls in each unit. Townhouse residents must pay for their own utility bills.
  • The apartment complex units have four bedrooms each (a single room for each student), a living room/dining area, kitchen, and bathroom. Network connections, cable television, voice mail, and air-conditioning are provided as well. Apartment residents do not pay their own utility bills, but the cost of the apartments is slightly higher than the townhouses.

I would like to emphasize that students should not make agreements or sign contracts with landlords for off-campus housing unless and until they have been released to that status by the Office of Residence Life through the lottery process during late fall semester. If they do so and they are not granted off-campus status through the lottery, there may be significant financial ramifications with breaking a lease or having to honor it. The University is not involved in the renting of off-campus houses to our students. Landlords may apply pressure to your sons and daughters to sign leases or agree to a rental price, and some landlords will take large, non-refundable deposits from your sons and daughters almost a year in advance. Signing a lease and not being released to off-campus status through the appropriate lottery process will likely obligate your sons and daughters to pay both for room/board on campus and off-campus rent. Lastly, the Office of the Dean of Students reserves the right to review all housing applications for independent living on or off campus, and the privilege can be revoked at any time.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PROSPECTIVE OFF-CAMPUS BORDERS: In all probability, the University's academic calendar for the 2007-2008 academic year will be revised so that classes will begin before Labor Day, on or about August 27, 2007. The Office of the Vice President for Academics sets the academic calendar, and we anticipate an announcement shortly from that office confirming the academic calendar. I fully expect confirmation of the academic calendar before the off-campus lottery takes place. However, I am sending this to provide advance notice to students and parents of this probable change. Students considering signing leases for off-campus housing (and who are approved to do so through the lottery) should plan to make appropriate arrangements in the lease to accommodate an earlier start to the academic year.

I will conclude here with the hope that the above information has been informative and will be helpful to you. If your sons or daughters have specific questions or concerns, please encourage them to visit the Office of Residence Life in the Barone Campus Center and speak with a member of the staff.

Sincerely,

Thomas C. Pellegrino, Ph.D.
Dean of Students

TCP/rs