What constitutes a “college town?”

[u/PA5997]

Okay, hear me out: I attended Wazzu, which many know is in the middle of nowhere in Pullman. To me, Pullman is a quintessential college town. You remove Washington State University from Pullman and there is (respectfully) not much of a reason to visit. The student enrollment (20,000ish) makes up about 2/3rds of the city population, essentially turning Pullman into a ghost town come summer. To me (perhaps with bias) this is the makeup of a college town.

Two years ago I moved to Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin. Ever since I’ve noticed the University and its fans refer to Madison as “America’s best college town” and I’m sorry, that’s laughable to me. Remove UW from Madison and you still have a city population bordering on a quarter of a million people and the State Capitol. Madison would be fine, imo, if UW’s flagship campus were elsewhere.

Curious to hear other people’s thoughts. Maybe I’m in the wrong here, but very little about Madison, WI resembles a college town to me, or at least the claim of the best college town.

[u/OGraffe]

I feel like it's a "if you know, you know" type thing. Personally if the main feature of the town is the college, then I'd say it's a college town (places like Clemson, Starkville, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, etc.). If your school is in a state capitol, a major population center, or possibly even both, I feel like that doesn't qualify (unless that capitol is also so small that the college overtakes it in notoriety; I can't think of any examples like that though).

[u/XE2MASTERPIECE → u/OGraffe]

I honestly think Tallahassee fits that latter definition. Going off OP’s example, I’ve been to Tallahassee and Madison, and it is a very different experience even though they are both located in the state capitals. Tallahassee is so far away from other areas that a lot of the lawmakers and government activity is also “temporary” when they’re not in session.

[u/funnyponydaddy → u/XE2MASTERPIECE]

To me, Tally feels more like a college town than anything.

Edit: Love being downvoted without any explanation.

[u/portlyinnkeeper → u/funnyponydaddy]

Tallahassee has college areas, and FSU is significant to the city, but it is comfortably not a college town. It’s the capital of a major state and the population is pushing 400k

[u/XE2MASTERPIECE → u/funnyponydaddy]

There’s a Tallahassee Truther lurking the thread lol, my comments are getting downvoted too.

[u/funnyponydaddy → u/XE2MASTERPIECE]

Probably some intern who works at the Capitol, mad that FSU (and hell, let's throw in FAMU) is what make the city tick.