Despite the many convenient apartments located on campus, and right off campus, many students choose to stray away from the school scene, and seek apartments in different, more accommodating areas.
Students, especially incoming freshman, want to live on campus to experience something new, and sometimes to create independence from family. However, numerous students enjoy living in areas like Jefferson Highway, College Drive, and even as far out as O’Neal Lane.
The reasons students choose to live in these areas instead of Tigerland are numerous. For some, it is the price differences, or even safer locations.
Rachel Mayeux, a textile and apparel merchandise sophomore, who lives with a roommate off campus, said she does not think students get back what they are paying to live on campus.
“Places around LSU go from very extreme and expensive areas to low-income areas,” Mayeux said. “I think where I live on Jefferson Highway, for the location, it is worth the $600 a month. ”
For others, it is because of the close proximity of their job and their close ties with family.
Courtney Durkin, a psychology sophomore who lives on O’Neal Lane, said she prefers to live in that area so she can be closer to her church, her family and her job.
“Everything I am involved with is on this side of town,” Durkin said.
Being so close to campus, including all the events that happen everyday, also can interfere with a student’s class work.
“With so many different activities going on, and constantly running into people I knew, I would get distracted from what I need to do,” Mayeux said.
Many of the apartments located on Jefferson Highway or College Drive conveniently are located next to the interstate, and centrally located, said Sandy Pyle, an assistant manager with the Warwick, which is a part of Patrician Management.
Pyle said Patrician Management includes the Warwick on Jefferson Highway, Ole Towne on College Drive, Shadow Creek on South Foster Drive, and the Patrician on Claycut and Foster Drive.
Many of these apartments feature gated communities, and a choice of a townhouse or a flat all within fairly reasonable prices, Pyle said.
“A lot of people like the Warwick because the electricity is included with the rent,” Pyle said.
Another area where apartments appeal to students with their location is College Drive.
Rebecca Lemoine, the community manager with Fairway View apartments, said they too are very centrally located.
“We are right on College Drive in the middle of everything,” Lemoine said. “Anyway you go, you will hit a shopping mall, a grocery store, or movie theaters.”
Being away from LSU gives students the opportunity to get away from the rowdiness of the apartments on campus, Lemoine said. Because the apartments next to campus are almost completely college students, trying to get a quiet moment can be hard.
Lemoine said students often tell her they no longer want to live on campus because it seems like a non-stop party.
“The apartments near LSU are in more of a social environment,” Durkin said.
While some students who move away from LSU may be upperclassmen who have already experienced life in Tigerland, there are those who have never lived near school, and do not plan on it.
“If I lived next to campus, I would feel like I was being sucked into the LSU microcosm,” Mayeux said. “I wouldn’t have contact with anyone outside the LSU realm.”
Along with not wanting to be a part of the party scene, Mayeux expressed disinterest in the luxurious amenities being offered at some of the places close to campus.
“It’s too much for college students,” Mayeux said. “I don’t need my own grocery service– I’m a student, I can do it myself.”