To many students, an apartment nestled in the heart of the Northern Tier might be the perfect living option. For the most part, rooms at places such as Chandler Crossings are far cheaper than their closer-to-campus counterparts. There are basketball courts, swimming pools, tanning booths and other amenities that make some of the complexes north of Lake Lansing Road look like country clubs compared to the cramped apartment buildings in East Lansing.

To other students, living within walking distance of campus trumps everything. The apartment's sole toilet could be located in the living room and a student might eagerly pay $600 a month to live there.

The point here is that having more options for housing is great for students. More complexes vying for your often-exorbitant monthly rent check creates an environment in which companies provide new amenities to one-up the competition.

East Lansing officials express disdain about the complexes in the Northern Tier. Kevin Beard, former chairman of the East Lansing Planning Commission went as far to say that the complexes are "Bath and DeWitt sucking the students out of the city of East Lansing," which in some respects is true.

These types of sentiments on the part of East Lansing officials - that they regret the loss of students to Northern Tier complexes - are refreshing, but are they sincere? If so, then The State News must question why policies implemented in recent years have seemed so distinctly anti-student. As we've pointed out before, strict noise policies, the demolition of student apartments and initiatives to limit new rental properties seem to indicate the city does not want students around. Yet, they profess to adamantly want students to come back from their Northern Tier residences.

And in the end, many students probably want to live in East Lansing just as much as they profess to want us here. Maybe we're just waiting for the environment to become a little more friendly.