Need a small town with a college (farmland, lake, houses)
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I little bit about myself. I currently live in Bend, OR, which is getting pretty crowded (if you go to the Oregon board it seems like every other post is about Bend).
I've been trying to find a small little town with super nice people and a college of some sort nearby. I'm fairly young (low 20's), but don't like the city life. Does anyone have any ideas?
Here's some criteria I've been kind of going by:
-I need it to be on the west side of the united states.
-Population? 5k - 20k? Or around those numbers.
-Super nice people.
-I don't like very harsh winters.
-I like warm (perhaps even hot) summers.
-Some kind of college.
Any kind of help would be GREATLY appreciated. I haven't really found anything yet, so I decided to post on this forum.
If you will go east, consider Dahlonega, Georgia - Ideal setting - meets all the other points you are looking for.. About 60 minutes to downtown Atlanta and everything you could ever want or need in a major city (30 minutes to the Atlanta suburbs) - Dahlonega is nestled right on the edge of the N. GA mountains and offers all kinds of recreational opportunities in your backyard, a quaint small-town feel on its historic square (it was the site of the first major U.S. Gold rush in the 1800's). It also has North Georgia Collega and State University which is growing very quickly and offers more and more courses of study.
I am originally from northern California and served almost 21 years in the Navy. I'm 43, and decided to retire/start my second career in a city called San Angelo in west Texas. It's 4 1/2 hours west-southwest of Dallas and 3 1/2 hours north-northwest of San Antonio. The city itself is 85k people.. but because it's very rural with lots of farmlands, etc. it's very spread out.
Not only are people very nice here, they are courteous as well. We run the gambit from college kids (Angelo State University (ASU) is here) to retirees. Houses are moderately priced (in some areas, a 4 bedroom house is $90 and up). There's housing that costs less, but it's older housing.
The city has 2 WalMarts, a Sam's (similar to Costco), Best Buy, a small mall with a couple big names (Sears, JC Penney, Dillards, etc.).
ASU just recently started carrying Texas Tech cirriculum and they are building additional dorms as we speak to carry the extra student load.
We have a city symphony and civic theater. You can always get a "hello" from a passerby as well.
The winters are mild (sometimes it snows... but it never sticks) maybe 1 day or 2 a year. The summers are warm-hot (it's been 80s-90s so far this summer.. think we had a couple days over 100). We have a lake for recreation as well.
Crime is relatively low. School systems seem to be okay (no problems).
I've attached a link to the local stuff if you want to check it out (below). If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, etc....
websites for their Higher Education Dept, or whatever it may be called in their state. Click on the link that lists ALL the colleges, and click their tuition rates....some states have a single page that lists all the colleges with their respective tuition.
Prices of tuition vary so drastically from one small town to the other.
We just moved from a small town/college town where we paid $2200 per semester for 12 credit hours.
Here? Less than 800 bucks!
So that's like free rent in there.
Good luck on your search.
Vegas has been wonderful. There are many suburbs and outskirt areas that are small. I live over at Nellis AFB and it's very small out this way.
resolute - Thanks much for the suggestion. It's a little bit out of where I was looking for but I will check it out!
Rathagos - Thanks very much for that thorough reply. I hadn't looked at very many areas in Texas. I am about to check out the links that you gave me! Quick question.. what's the culture like there? Are there a lot of cowboys? Is it culturally diverse? etc. It definitely sounds like a place I might be interested in though. Even though the population is about the same where I live now, but the spread-outness may be nice.
VegasGrace - Very good point about the tuition costs. I realize I will be paying more for out of state tuition if I don't find someplace decent in Oregon. I will keep an eye out for that.
TexasHorseLady - Another Texas suggestion! I've heard good things about Southwestern University. I will look more into it, definately.
arod0331 - I know, right?
Thanks everyone for their suggestions and help! I will be doing a little research now. If anyone has any other suggestions, feel free to let me know!
Ellensburg, Washington, home of Central Washington University. Population around 15,000. Pretty area, old brick building downtown, nice people, nice restaurants. Colder in the winter than Seattle, but not insanely old, and gets more sunshine.
It's not west, but Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas, is a nice little town. Summers are hot. Winters can be cold but I imagine very mild compared to Oregon.
Texas A&M in College Station is another one to check out.
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Dahlonega, Georgia
