 "Photo: Anne-Marie Huff/The Daily Texan")
Austin ranked second amongst midsize cities in the U.S. by the American Institute for Economic Research in its first list of the 75 best cities to live in for college students.
The institute took over the ranking project in 2008 from the regional planning organization Collegia, which started the yearly report in 2003.
“We believe college towns are as important as the colleges themselves and wanted to develop a standard that compares living conditions for students,” institute research associate Keming Liang said.
The 2009-10 College Destinations Index ranked 360 metropolitan cities and towns in factors ranging from student diversity to city accessibility and earning capability, using research pulled from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau.
Austin received particularly higher marks in some categories, including arts and leisure and entrepreneurial activity, than first-place winner San Jose, Calif.
Victor Ovalle, an Austin Parks and Recreation spokesman, agreed with the reasons for Austin’s high ranking, which he attributed to the city’s college student-friendly layout. That is why he chose to raise his family in Austin after he attended the University as a graduate student majoring in radio-television-film, he said.
“When I first came to the city I was really, really impressed by the number of open areas and parks the city had,” Ovalle said. “They are [usually] free of charge, which, for a college student, is really nice.”
Ovalle, who was married as a student, used to take his daughter to Zilker Metropolitan Park to have picnics and fly kites.
“That’s what made me want to stay,” Ovalle said. “There are so many green areas, things to do, an education-focus with a great university. It’s a great place to raise kids.”
The park is also the site for some of the events that make Austin the Live Music Capital of the World.
The Austin City Limits Music Festival and Blues on the Green concerts, as well as the Trail of Lights Festival and the Kite Festival will be held on the Zilker Park’s Great Lawn.
The three-year project completed this August, the Great Lawn was an effort by the Parks and Recreation Department to cut water waste and city expenses, as well as appeal to citizens as a venue for outdoor entertainment.
Diversity is what appeals to some out-of-state students like economics sophomore Noman Ahmad, who left his hometown in Long Island, New York for Austin last January.
Ahmad, who said he is very interested in dance and theater, enjoys the fact that he is able to tap into his Pakistani cultural roots in Austin, participating in various South Asian events both on and off campus throughout the year, and live in a big city without the hurried pace of life, he said.
“I wanted to go to a big university with a lot of people and have a campus lifestyle, yet live near a big city,” Ahmad said. “Though Austin is really diverse like New York, life [here] is much more calmed down compared to New York. In New York people are always running around, talking on phones. After you have lived in a really rushed [area], you appreciate [Austin].”
Business freshman Olivia Luko came to Austin from the “medium-sized college town” of Tucson, Ariz.
“[In Tuscon] there isn’t much going on, not much growth and not much opportunity for college town. There’s a lot going on here; arts, sports, and the fact that it’s the capital. Things happen here,” Luko said.
Luko rides the bus to frequent her favorite places in Austin, including Whole Foods Market. UT and other college students in Austin are fortunate enough to have access to public transportation services that connect them to the entire city, she said.
The full College Destinations Index can be ordered free of charge as a PDF or as a print copy for $2 at http://www.aier.org.
4 comments