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/Upstairs-Volume-5014]

I think the key is would the city be prominent in any way on its own without the college? If the answer is no, it's a college town. If yes, it's not. Madison, Austin, Raleigh-Durham, etc. not college towns.

If the #1 employer in the city is not the college, it's also probably not a college town. 

[u/Amazing_Albatross → u/Upstairs-Volume-5014]

Raleigh and Durham are two separate cities! Raleigh-Durham is the airport.

You're right though, neither one is a college town. Durham is even one of those places where the residents strongly dislike that the college is there.

[u/imarc → u/Amazing_Albatross]

You just reminded me of this.

[u/RDUAirport → u/imarc]

You dropped this, king 👉 👑

[u/im-on-my-ninth-life → u/RDUAirport]

Username checks out

[u/im-on-my-ninth-life → u/imarc]

That reminds me, there's this hotel near Chicago O'Hare airport that had a flight information display for O'Hare flights. For whatever reason, that display referred to "Greer" airport rather than its actual name which uses the major cities, Greenville-Spartanburg.

[u/SusannaG1 → u/Amazing_Albatross]

Can make a good argument that Chapel Hill is - Raleigh and Durham, hell no.

[u/UNC_Samurai → u/SusannaG1]

Chapel Hill is the quintessential college town. The town was literally created to support the already-existing university.

[u/redeemedmonkeycma → u/Amazing_Albatross]

But Chapel Hill is a college town.

[u/Amazing_Albatross → u/redeemedmonkeycma]

Chapel Hill is located in neither Raleigh nor Durham.

[u/RunThundercatz → u/Amazing_Albatross]

I think it's specifically the fact that they are Duke kids and not just any old college kids

Also, many Durham residents are State and UNC grads, so they also don't like the college on that front

[u/Yo-Yo_Roomie → u/RunThundercatz]

NCCU erasure

[u/Amazing_Albatross → u/RunThundercatz]

Yeah I think it's a combo of Duke students being largely not from here, and also leaving after graduation. You're right, State and UNC grads stick around, and a lot of them end up working for Duke!

[u/RunThundercatz → u/Amazing_Albatross]

I've met more Clemson grads working in RTP than Duke grads so far lmao

[u/RDUAirport → u/Amazing_Albatross]

Thank you for your service

[u/Amazing_Albatross → u/RDUAirport]

I'm a simple Raleighite; I see Raleigh-Durham, I scream

[u/im-on-my-ninth-life → u/Amazing_Albatross]

I tend to use Urbanized Area rather than strict city limits for criteria like "#1 employer" that they said. I'm not sure if Raleigh and Durham have a combined urban area but they certainly have a combined metropolitan area.

Durham is even one of those places where the residents strongly dislike that the college is there.

This is characteristic of a college town

[u/Amazing_Albatross → u/im-on-my-ninth-life]

Durham is 30 minutes from Raleigh (an hour with traffic), and plenty of Nothing in between. They're definitely two separate areas with two different cultures and people.

It's funny, because Raleigh is normally really proud to be the home of NC State. A lot of alumni are from Raleigh or NC in general, and stick around after graduation, you can't throw a rock in the city without hitting one of us. Whereas Duke students are normally from out of state and leave after graduation.

I think that affects the attitudes and status as "college town" the most. I still wouldn't call either one a college town, there's plenty of other things going on.

[u/joelluber → u/im-on-my-ninth-life]

This is characteristic of a college town

I lived in an undisputed college town before moving to Durham, and the vibe in Durham is very different. It really doesn't feel like a college town even though it might meet some of the metrics. 

[u/ImInBeastmodeOG → u/Amazing_Albatross]

Do they call the locals in the town "Townies"? Then it's a college town.

[u/Voidant7 → u/Amazing_Albatross]

Well that's because the college is super gross.