Pros and Cons of Living in a College Town

After growing up in St. Louis, I had hoped that I would end up in college in a similarly metropolitan area. Kansas City was my dream - far enough away from home to escape the watchful eyes of my parents, yet near enough that I could go home when I wanted to, and chock full of interesting things to do and see. The fates intervened, in the form of my mother fishing a discarded college recruitment envelope from the trash. The contents of said envelope were offering me what amounted to nearly a full ride scholarship to attend a school in a very small town. I was devastated. What on earth was I going to do with my weekends, when the nearest decent mall was over an hour away, and the best possibilities for entertainment were reduced to a single three-screen movie theater and a brand new Super Wal-Mart?

Over time, I learned to cope, and even enjoy some of the benefits of living in a small college town. After completing two degrees there, I moved on to a different college town to continue my education, and ended up sticking around even after my educational plans petered out. When it really comes down to it, living in a college town isn't all that bad. In fact, there are even reasons to really enjoy living in a town where the primary source of pretty much everything is a college or university. But it's not all roses - for every thing I can think of that makes me like college town living, there are an equal number of reasons I want to get out, eventually.

Low Cost of Living
One of my roommates is from Chicago, and back when we were making plans for her to move in with me, she inquired about the rent and utilities at our apartment. When I gave her those numbers, she nearly fell over in shock. We live within walking distance of the campus, and though I know that we have a really great deal for our location, even the more pricey options in the same neighborhood are considerably less than you would pay for something comparable in a major city. Around here, the further you get from campus, the cheaper the living options get. And where, other than a college town, is living in a trailer going to be viewed as something that you do, without much of a social stigma?