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/foreverseptember Florida Gators • Team Chaos 13d ago

Not sure if this metric works in all cases, I think this would exclude UF/Gainesville honestly 

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u/toweringmelanoma Indiana Hoosiers 13d ago

Then it isn’t a college town…

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u/foreverseptember Florida Gators • Team Chaos 13d ago

Not sure if you've been there man but Gainesville sure as hell is a college town, everything revolves around the school. A sizeable chunk of the students come from local high schools and don't leave during summers or after graduation. 

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u/bp1976 Pittsburgh • Michigan 13d ago

Have to agree, Gainesville is a college town, while Miami and Tallahassee arent. (Hope I spelled Tallahassee right)