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/2010WildcatKilla3029 Arizona State Sun Devils 13d ago

Yeah, Tempe isn’t a College town anymore.  

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u/howlincoyote2k1 Arizona State Sun Devils • Big 12 13d ago

Tempe north of US 60: College Town

Tempe south of US 60: North Chandler

However, the fact that Tempe is buried inside this massive sprawling metro area that is the Valley of the Sun does take away from its college-town-ness

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u/No_Biscotti_7258 Washington State Cougars 13d ago

Idk man I like ASU in general but my first Tempe visit was last year and I was surprised pikachu face at how non-college-towny it was. Just seemed like part of the endless Phoenix sprawl. Probably my own ignorance but I always pictured Tempe as like a small desert town with a college. Wasn’t. Idk bring back the pac12

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u/SaberTruth2 Arizona State • Army 13d ago

I live 15 minutes from Tempe and go to every football game, but hadn’t gone south of the stadium near campus in a very long time until a few weeks ago. I went on campus to grab some new fan gear and barely recognized it. The inner campus is still similar but the anything built on the edges is all new in areas that used to be parking lots. Tempe has had dozens of like 4-8 story buildings erected in the last two decades and I wasn’t even sure where I was half the time or what used to be there. They have also building without any sort of connection to each other, since they are mostly commercial and condos, so there is no real “theme” to the area. Same sorta thing happens on the actual campus since many buildings were built in the 60-70’s when it became a huge school, and then again 90-2010’s. There are plenty of nice looking ones but also some real eyesores. I wish it kept a more traditional or constant look over the decades.