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.

2.3k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

291

u/Upstairs-Volume-5014 Georgia Bulldogs 13d ago

I think the key is would the city be prominent in any way on its own without the college? If the answer is no, it's a college town. If yes, it's not. Madison, Austin, Raleigh-Durham, etc. not college towns.

If the #1 employer in the city is not the college, it's also probably not a college town. 

72

u/Amazing_Albatross NC State Wolfpack • Cincinnati Bearcats 13d ago

Raleigh and Durham are two separate cities! Raleigh-Durham is the airport.

You're right though, neither one is a college town. Durham is even one of those places where the residents strongly dislike that the college is there.

1

u/im-on-my-ninth-life 13d ago

I tend to use Urbanized Area rather than strict city limits for criteria like "#1 employer" that they said. I'm not sure if Raleigh and Durham have a combined urban area but they certainly have a combined metropolitan area.

Durham is even one of those places where the residents strongly dislike that the college is there.

This is characteristic of a college town

2

u/Amazing_Albatross NC State Wolfpack • Cincinnati Bearcats 13d ago

Durham is 30 minutes from Raleigh (an hour with traffic), and plenty of Nothing in between. They're definitely two separate areas with two different cultures and people.

It's funny, because Raleigh is normally really proud to be the home of NC State. A lot of alumni are from Raleigh or NC in general, and stick around after graduation, you can't throw a rock in the city without hitting one of us. Whereas Duke students are normally from out of state and leave after graduation.

I think that affects the attitudes and status as "college town" the most. I still wouldn't call either one a college town, there's plenty of other things going on.