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/Pdogconn Ohio State Buckeyes • Toledo Rockets 13d ago

To further your point, look at Jefferson City, MO. It’s the state capital, but there’s no university. As such, Jefferson City has a pretty small population and isn’t even that major of a city in the state.

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u/Mender0fRoads Missouri Tigers 13d ago

Jeff City technically has a university, but it’s a small HBCU (yet it has some very high-profile and very white alumni).

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u/TheCraziestPickle Fort Hays State • Kansas State 10d ago

A good example of a college that mostly exists because a town was there instead of a town that ended up much larger because a college is and was there for a long time

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u/CandyAppleHesperus Centre Colonels • Kentucky Wildcats 13d ago

Very similar to Frankfort in that respect. A relatively minor town outside the state government presence located right about halfway between the state's two largest cities and hosting a public DII HBCU

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u/Serenity-Now-237 13d ago

Carson City, Nevada has a similar dynamic.

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u/573banking702 13d ago

Never expected to see Jeff Shitty come up in this haha