BATON ROUGE - Due to an on-campus housing shortage, LSU is offering incoming freshmen living within a 30-mile radius of the university a $3,000 stipend to commute.

LSU students Emma Skeath and Rachel Bancroft feel that the live-on requirement for freshmen is the main reason why it has come to this.

"If you weren't requiring it, you wouldn't have to pay people not to do it," Bancroft said.

Both feel that if the school can not house incoming freshmen, then the enrollment rate should be lowered.

"They're just selling more slots than they have available. And they're hoping that people will drop out or don't pay their fee bill," Skeath said.

The parent of incoming freshman Crystal Wade says that with gas prices, traffic and safety concerns, the idea of offering this to students shouldn't have been considered.

"I don't think that they should even be considering giving these kids some money to commute. Build bigger dorms," she said.

She feels that out-of-state students are being favored and this is taking away the freshman experience from locals.

"Some of these kids are looking forward to this. This is something that they dreamt about in high school and then you're asking them to stay home," Wade said.

LSU Residential Life says that the program will be closed once they reach a certain amount of students that opt into the program.