Made my first trip down Nicholson and Burbank this weekend...Damn

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has the student population of LSU doubled?

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In its initial year of 1989, TOPS funded $54 million in tuition for 24,163 students; in the 2014-2015 academic year, the program cost $270 million for the benefit of more than 50,000 students. Forty percent of the recipients attend LSU. The next cost estimate is $300 million annually.

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When the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students was created by the Legislature more than 20 years ago, the idea was to keep Louisiana’s best and brightest students in the state. Not only has TOPS kept them here, but it is has kept them well—often in spiffy new digs tricked out with high-end amenities. Features such as granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors, private workout facilities and a lazy river are standard items in the upscale student housing complexes around LSU these days. Precisely how much TOPS has factored into creating a market for these luxury apartments is unclear because the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance does not keep such data. But you don’t need statistics to point out the obvious. “TOPS has been real key in the development of upscale student housing,” says David Trusty, a commercial real estate broker at Gully Phelps & McKey. “The kids are getting at least a good portion of their tuition and expenses paid, so their families can afford to put them in nicer places.” Consider that a TOPS Honors award, which is the highest level TOPS scholarship, covers full tuition at a Louisiana college or university. It also pays a stipend of $800 per year, which hardly takes care of a semester of housing expenses but at least it is a start.

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“There are two major pieces of paying for college—tuition and room and board, and at LSU they’re about equal—roughly $8,000 a year,” says Greg Albrecht, Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Officer. “That means if your kid is going to LSU, TOPS is going to pay for half of it, so that’s a chunk that mom and dad can spend on nicer housing.” Or a nicer car, for that matter. Steve Waller, director of LSU Office of Residential Life, says in his 17 years at LSU he has seen a marked improvement in the quality of student vehicles in the dormitory parking lots. “TOPS pays their tuition so mom and dad get them a much nicer car for graduation,” he says. “You used to see used Toyotas. Now you see new SUVs, BMWs and much fancier cars.”

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and Tiger Land is turning into a section 8 ghetto,

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Sharlo is where Derrick Todd Lee took his first victim

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hell, with that huge neighborhood out by u-club, has the population of BR itself gone up like 33-50%?

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The place i lived (sharlo) is now ghetto.

So they had to build new stuff for honkeys

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Ghetto didn't move in and push whitey out. Whitey moved out when new popular places opened, and complexes needed to drop rates to keep their units occupied. Then Ghetto moves in. Although once that started, yes it compounds quickly.

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but this new proliferation? it legit blew my mind

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