Report: Providence one of best college towns

PROVIDENCE WAS named one of the top 50 college towns in the nation, coming in 14th, by the College Rank website. / COURTESY COLLEGE RANK
PROVIDENCE WAS named one of the top 50 college towns in the nation, coming in 14th, by the College Rank website. / COURTESY COLLEGE RANK

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s capital city is one of the best college towns in the nation, according to College Rank.
College Rank, a website dedicated to evaluating and ranking college programs, on Tuesday released its list of the top 50 college towns.
It said writer Kara Mayer Robinson researched hundreds of college towns to create the list.
“These top 50 cities offer college youth and energy while also providing a wonderful place to call home for life,” College Rank said.
Robinson said she considered factors such as outdoor space, the number of boutiques and cafés, pedestrian friendliness, culture, nightlife and “the general vibe” when creating the list.
Providence ranked 14th best. Its description reads in part: “With Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design just off the downtown area, students have breathed life into the entire zone – with funky shops and cafes, street-art exhibits and clear signs of political activism.”
First on the list is San Luis Obispo in California, home to California Polytechnic State University. Cambridge, Mass., home of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was second.

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