From the New England town with a liberal arts school to the Sunbelt city with a state university, many communities across the country liven up in late summer as a sizable portion of their young adult population returns to campus. Students always bring excitement and energy to dispel any lingering dog day blues, and though the increased traffic and commotion take some getting used to, the air of youth is essential to local businesses, community events, and morale.

Likewise, a college town’s brand comes alive when adoption and support crosses over into the student body, which may be easier said than done. Sustaining the right level of exchange between a municipality and its student population can be hard to achieve, especially when many campuses operate as enclaves with administrations that parallel municipal government in form and function. So, in the face of an increasingly complex town-gown relationship, why not develop the town-student relationship instead? 

Pre-Requisites

The college campus is a place of growth and discovery. So, too, should the college town encourage students to explore new surroundings beyond ivy-covered halls. The beginning of Fall Semester presents myriad opportunities to make a branded first impression. On-campus signage and online posts—covering everything from parking enforcement, public transportation routes, emergency services, and the can’t-miss late summer community event—are essential. For a more personal touch, teams of local guides (volunteer college students or recent grads in bright, branded shirts) can be posted near dorms and off-campus housing, ready to provide information about city services, restaurants, and things to do. Giving local guides license to go above and beyond to help new or returning students lends the position some prestige, and capturing fun moments during the guides’ day adds variety to municipal social media feeds.

Modern Greek

There’s often an urge to capture the attention of the student body en masse, but a better strategy when vastly outnumbered by the campus crowd may be to “divide and conquer” as the ancients did. Conveniently, Greek-letter organizations and campus clubs allow for more targeted outreach according to group characteristics, interests, and philanthropic goals. There are endless connections to be made between students that belong to these campus organizations and mentors, nonprofits, and off-campus resources. Importantly, successful collaborations build the reputation of both the town and the student organization in the eyes of the wider community.

Organic Chemistry

For bonds that last well past the time that a degree is conferred, college towns have to demonstrate a natural compatibility with the student population. A small committee of social science students can develop efforts in this category to adapt town functions and programming to student behavior: for example, adding a “midnight” showing after a regularly-scheduled movie night. A more spontaneous approach might involve making ten random students mayor-for-an-hour so that, over the course of a single workday, the town has several ideas on how to best serve that demographic. In return, the civically-involved students become staunch advocates for the town and the policies they helped shape.

Applied Statistics

If qualitative observations of an improving town-student relationship aren’t sufficient, college towns must turn to quantifiable differences in the way that students perceive the role of the town and its government. A biennial Campus Census can gather hard data with questions that ask young residents to rate municipal services and initiatives. Maintaining a regular cadence with this census creates an opportunity to track sentiment with each undergraduate class, as students would participate once in their first or second year and then again in their third or fourth year. Volunteer census takers would make sure a representative sample of their peers is included in the effort, while volunteer research analysts would prepare the data for publication.

Grading Scale

There has to be some leniency when evaluating whether a town has successfully connected college-aged residents to the community around them. It’s hard enough to get a couple words past the AirPod filter, let alone capture a student’s time and attention long enough to forge a relationship. Ultimately, genuine outreach to civic-minded students who feel they’ll benefit from off-campus interactions may be just the way to get an initiative off the ground and start a new college town tradition.