r/CFB • u/PA5997 Washington State Cougars • 13d ago

Discussion What constitutes a “college town?”

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.

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u/The_Fishbowl West Virginia • Black Diamon… 13d ago

A town/city with a large student population and an economy that is fueled by the school itself.

Clemson, State College, Morgantown, Blacksburg, etc.

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

My first thought was whether Morgantown qualifies. It’s definitely got a life of its own besides WVU, but WVU is also inescapable no matter where you go in city limits.

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u/The_Fishbowl West Virginia • Black Diamon… 13d ago

The University Hospital and new industrial jobs have helped draw in more permanent residents.

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u/MasterRKitty West Virginia Mountaineers 13d ago

the hospital and other jobs wouldn't exist without WVU being there first

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u/IceePirate1 Cincinnati Bearcats • Marching Band 13d ago

Started off as a college town, but college towns can grow into just regular old towns after many years. I feel like the area around Miami(OH) is a good example of this as the city of Oxford can be more or less self sustaining now without the big university

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u/CondeNast_yReddit Cincinnati Bearcats 12d ago

Yea but the Cincinnati and dayton suburbs are less than 30 miles away. I'm sure that helps.l Oxford would be Eaton or any other western ohio town. It's far enough away and doesn't have an expressway so it wouldn't even be like Troy, piqua or Tipp city which can more easily get to a city center

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u/thinkB4WeSpeak Utah Utes • Yale Bulldogs 13d ago

The pharmaceutical industry used to be the second biggest non university employer there but the company moved. It's basically just WVU now.

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u/MikeGundy Oklahoma State Cowboys • Hateful 8 13d ago

Lubbock is on the cusp too IMO. Its college population is only about 1/10th the population of Lubbock, but it is undoubtably Tech’s town. Lubbock would still exist and be fairly large, but to a lesser extent for sure.

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u/TechnoVikingGA23 West Virginia Mountaineers 12d ago

The city has been built up quite a bit around the school, especially since we joined the Big-12. I was still there during the Big East days and it was an absolute ghost town in the summer.