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<p>Are you kidding me? It’s at least an hour’s drive from the Claremont Colleges to the LA beaches, IF there’s no traffic, and IF you have access to a car. And when is there not traffic in LA? I think to be safe you might need to count on 2-3 hours in each direction. Which is fine if you’ve got an entire day to kill and nothing else to do, but I wouldn’t count that as “close” to beaches.</p>
<p>I’m going to make a different suggestion. Because there aren’t many LACs or small universities in the South near the ocean (though Eckard and the College of Charleston are interesting suggestions), what about coastal New England? You won’t be swimming in the wintertime, but because of the ocean influence the winters are usually milder there than in the Midwest. Bowdoin is within minutes of a beautiful stretch of the Maine coast, and it has a coastal studies center that is literally right on a secluded stretch of waterfront. Connecticut College in New London is just minutes away from the coast, and very close to charming old seaport towns like Mystic. A number of Boston-area colleges (Brandeis, Tufts come to mind) are within minutes of the ocean. Wheaton College, in Norton, MA, is within 30-40 minutes of the ocean in any of several directions.</p>
<p>Midwesterners are often surprised how much milder the winters are on the East Coast; and Northeasterners who end up in the Midwest are often shocked to find the winters there much harsher. Californians tend to assume the weather is equally bad in the Northeast and Midwest because neither can come close to California in that department, but there is a huge difference. You can have warmer without going all the way to warm, and access to the ocean without sacrificing academic quality, in coastal New England.</p>