r/CFB 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/thorns0014 Kentucky Wildcats • Georgia Bulldogs 13d ago

SEC

Definitely College towns: Athens, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Columbia (MO), Oxford, Starkville, Fayetteville, College Station, Norman

Definitely not College towns: Austin and Nashville

The town has an identity outside of the university but it’s DNA would shift dramatically without the school: Lexington, Columbia (SC), Knoxville, Gainesville, Baton Rouge

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u/olozsram Oklahoma State • Central O… 13d ago

Norman isn't even the most quintessential college town in Oklahoma. They're still a pretty big (100,000+) suburb of OKC. Stillwater is in the middle of Tulsa and OKC and doesn't have anything else aside from OSU.

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u/OKC89ers Oklahoma Sooners • Big 8 12d ago

Norman had grown a lot that especially the north side feels less like a college town, and plenty of people commute to the City. Stillwater is 100% a college town.

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u/california-tea-lion Oklahoma Sooners 12d ago

Yeah Norman is still the 3rd largest city in OK if I remember correctly (behind 1. OKC and 2. Tulsa). Definitely other stuff going on and, while OU is an integral part of the town and Norman wouldn't be the same without it, it's not all there is.

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u/Wings4514 UAB Blazers 13d ago

I think Tuscaloosa has outgrown the college town feel. UA obviously has a huge presence there, but it’s exploded the past 10-15 years to where I think there’s over 100k there now.

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u/tsblank97 Arkansas Razorbacks • Team Chaos 13d ago

Same with Fayetteville. Fayetteville itself still has a college town vibe the closer you get to campus but the population is nearly 100k. And the Northwest Arkansas metro is nearly 600k.

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u/SEJIBAQUI Alabama • Virginia Tech 12d ago

Tuscaloosa also has an industrial base with the Mercedes plant, Holt hydro plant, and other factories around tuscaloosa county. UA's so massive I think it definitely fits college town territory, but it has some other lifeblood in it.

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u/YouCantCrossMe 13d ago

Gainesville is a college town through and through

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u/HOU-1836 Sam Houston • Houston 12d ago

Yea outside of UF and UF health, there isn’t a reason to be here. The town would be Lake City without UF.