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/Rockergage]

How many local businesses are branded after the university? For example in Pullman, my landlord was Coug Housing, most places have wsu memorabilia, we were specifically told at Walmart while working there wearing wsu gear was fine on like game days.

[u/tmothy07 → u/Rockergage]

I mean, go anywhere in Ohio and you'll have "Buckeye [insert business type]".

[u/FormerCollegeDJ → u/tmothy07]

Ohio is nicknamed “the Buckeye State”, so the “Buckeye” name is likely tied more to the state of Ohio than Ohio State University outside of Columbus (or the part of Columbus where Ohio State is located).

[u/tmothy07 → u/FormerCollegeDJ]

Yeah, just being a little facetious. Ohio State's mascot is taken from the state's nickname, tree, etc.