Sarah Dawes
February 2011
Engl202 Text Project

During Chelsea McCarthy’s freshman year at the University of Mary Washington, she paid around $8,000 to share a dorm room with two girls and a bathroom with six.  Within their forced triple, Chelsea and her two roommates barely had enough space for their beds; the girls had to share a closet and dresser, simply because there was no room for their own.  The tiny bathroom contained two sinks, one toilet, and one shower, all of which were meant to comfortably serve the six college newcomers without strain.  Inevitably, this was not the case; the six were constantly competing for time in the shower or toilet, causing anxiety.  The close quarters and strained resources resulted in high levels of stress, a frequent struggle with illness, and constant disputes.  At the close of her freshman year, Chelsea vowed never to live on-campus again due to such crowding.

However, when searching for housing options off of Mary Washington grounds, Chelsea was faced with a problem.  As defined by the Fredericksburg Virginia’s Code of Ordinances, a family is: “one person or two or more persons related by blood, adoption, or marriage, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, with no more than two boarders; or a group of not more than three unrelated persons living together as a single housekeeping unit.”(Code of Ordinances) So in respecting this law, Chelsea or any resident of Fredericksburg has been forbidden from living with more than two unrelated persons.  Such a restriction causes a monumental issue for college students living throughout Fredericksburg: yes, students wish to live with a fewer number of roommates in comparison to life in the dorms, and yet the strict limitation of three individuals to a home is economically unfeasible.  With home rental fees starting around $2,000 a month, students like Chelsea would end up paying close to $8,000 a year – a basic fee that does not include utilities and a meal plan like the $8,000 does at Mary Washington.

You may ask, ‘Why does Fredericksburg implement such a financially crippling law, particularly in a college town?’  The Planning and Community Development Department has issued an informational pamphlet discussing the issue, where they claim that “overcrowding results in a threat to public safety and the welfare of the occupants of the homes, as well as the neighborhood.”  (Residential Occupancy Pamphlet)  This is undoubtedly true, though isn’t it precisely what the dorm system at Mary Washington had inflicted on Chelsea?  Isn’t this precisely what Chelsea had fought to escape from?  The pamphlet recognizes that, among other things, overcrowding “increases physical and mental fatigue when performing routine household tasks.  Overcrowding increases the risk of spreading infection and disease between occupants.” How can the city of Fredericksburg be so strict on overcrowding regulations when local college students are forced to endure such conditions at the university?

Full-time students considering an off-campus home that can comfortably fit 4-6 individuals should be able to file for a waiver that allows them to live in such conditions.  Full-time students deserve to have an option in the case of residential occupancy.  If an appropriate situation presents itself in the form of multiple roommates, a student deserves the right to consider this condition without an unreasonable and hypocritical threat from the city of Fredericksburg.

Enacting such a waiver provides benefits for the city of Fredericksburg as well as the University of Mary Washington.  With a number of students seeking off-campus housing, Mary Washington will not need to create forced triples in dorm rooms, purchase space in hotels, or spend millions on new housing.  The school will be able to keep its quaint campus size while also conserving the saved money for other necessities.  Fredericksburg will surely see more students considering off-campus housing, thus boosting the economy in terms of residential habitation.  And with healthier, happier students, the standard of living and working in Fredericksburg will surely bloom as well.