Alfred the Ultimate College Town in national survey

Home to Alfred State College and Alfred University, Alfred was ranked No. 1 in a nationwide survey to determine the Ultimate College Town.

Washington Post reporter Andrew Van Dam found the top college town by ranking 150 U.S. Census urban areas with the largest share of college students. Urban areas follow population-density patterns, not municipal boundaries.

Alfred, No. 1 by a significant margin in the survey — about 85% of the area’s population of 4,500 are students — was called by Van Dam “the collegiest,” his term.

Van Dam describes Alfred as a village wedged in Western New York’s hills that is home to both a public and private school, Alfred State and Alfred U.

“Students make up an astonishing 85% of the town’s population” when semesters are in session, he writes. “If you go left at the town’s only stoplight, you’re on one campus. Turn right, you’re on the other. Now that’s a college town.”

Alfred is at the center of the U.S. Northeast. Located along Interstate 86, it was called a convenient and attractive college town for students from a wide region and around the world.

According to NASA’s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, there are nearly 104.5 million people within 350 miles of Alfred — approximately one-third of the U.S. population.

“Living in the Ultimate College Town gives you access to both beautiful campuses and a supportive tight-knit community, including world-class faculty who judge their achievements by how students succeed at launching their careers,” said Alfred State’s president, Dr. Steven Mauro.

“With students making up 85% of all residents in our village, you know we are student-centered,” he continued. “Great ideas and innovations are shared across Main Street, many alumni met their spouses at the sister school, and everyone benefits from the wealth of recreation to share fun, fitness, and fellowship in such a friendly environment.”

Dr. Mark Zupan, AU’s president, said, “While there is only one traf-

Alfred continued from page 20 fic light in Alfred, there are plentiful and potent intersections that benefit faculty, students, and staff — including those offered by our sister school, Alfred State College, and the friendly surrounding village.”

Zupan said Alfred U’s purpose is to help its students identify and realize their purpose.

“The combination of our small size, wide range of programs, applied learning opportunities, and commitment to student engagement through mentoring allows Alfred University to be a talent incubator and socioeconomic development engine,” he said.

Alfred Mayor Becky Prophet said there is nothing like the sum of the Alfreds anywhere in the U.S. — or perhaps the world.

“In this beautiful valley of Western New York, the word Alfred is applied to three communities that coalesce into a single multifaceted gem,” the mayor said. “The Village of Alfred, nestled between the two schools, makes an intersection and a gathering place for the valley.

“We are the most collegiate of all college towns,” Prophet said. “We are an excellent place to grow up. We are a fine place to raise a family. But most of all, Alfred is the best place to combine daily life and learning. In Alfred, we live to learn and learn to live for all of our lives.”

Following Alfred in the rankings is Prairie View, Texas, home of Prairie

View A&M University (77.8% of that community are students) with Slippery Rock, Pa. (Slippery Rock University, 67.3%) at No.

3; Cedarville, Ohio (Cedarville University, 67%) at No. 4; and Oxford, Ohio (Miami University, 62.3%) at No. 5.

Rest Of Top 25

The college town survey is rounded out by the top 25:

6. Colorado Springs, Colo., with the U.S. Air Force Academy

7. Potsdam with SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University in Potsdam

8. Hamilton with Colgate University

9. Geneseo with SUNY Geneseo

10. Athens, Ohio, with Ohio University

11. Boone, N.C., with Appalachian State University

12. Delhi with SUNY Delhi

13. Middlebury, Vermont, with Middlebury College

14. Kutztown, Pa., with Kutztown University

15. Whitewater, Wis., University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

16. Pullman, Wash., with Washington State University

17. Raymond, Miss., with Hinds Community College

18. Canton with SUNY Canton and St. Lawrence University

19. Ada, Ohio, with Ohio Northern University

20. Dahlonega, Ga., with University of North Georgia

21. Cullowhee, N.C., with Western Carolina University

22. Cazenovia with Cazenovia College

23. Ithaca with Cornell University and Ithaca College

24. New Concord, Ohio, with Muskingum University

25. Lexington, Va., with Washington & Lee University and Virginia Military Institute

New York State

New York state is home to the most and highest-ranked Ultimate College Towns (St. Bonaventure University and the Allegany/Olean area did not make the list). The Post report shows that New York has a greater number of towns than any other state where students are more than half the local population. Five towns with the more than 50% mark are in New York. Ohio has three such college towns and Pennsylvania has two.

New York’s other Ultimate College Towns in the top 150 include 61. Oneonta (SUNY), 80. West Point (U.S. Military Academy), 88. Cobleskill (SUNY), 97. Red Hook (Bard College), 129. Dryden (SUNY Tompkins Cortland CC), 135. Brockport (SUNY) and 150. Cortland (SUNY).

SUNY originally coordinated all 64 locations for colleges and universities so that 93% of New Yorkers live within 15 miles of a higher education provider, and nearly 100% live within 30 miles.

ALFRED’S HISTORY IN EDUCATION

The village of Alfred has been a town centered on education since 1836, according to Alfred State archives. A small school of higher education, sponsored by Seventhy Day Baptists, became Alfred University in 1856.

Alfred U, founded as a co-educational place of learning that embraced diversity with persons of both sexes and all races sharing classes, was imbued with the powerful progressive values of the mid-19th century.

Faculty and students hosted Frederick Douglass and leaders of the Women’s Suffrage movement. In 1900, with the creation of the New York State School of Clay Working at Alfred, the university added ceramic art and engineering colleges to the institution.

In 1908, the creation of an agriculture program and later the School for American Craftsmen expanded the educational opportunities for prospective students.

Alfred State College was spun off from the university in 1948 with the founding of the SUNY system, with programs based on agricultural, vocational and technical education.