I recently stumbled on a Columbus, Ohio site called Easy Columbus that compiles all the things going on “off-campus” that college students might want to do. It is a very well-done site and easy to navigate. Users can search by day or event, and it even includes information about how to save money.
I did a little digging and found that there are 16 colleges and universities within 20 miles of downtown Columbus. Combined, these schools enroll a little over 73,000 undergraduate students at any given time. Comparatively, there are 22 colleges and universities within 20 miles of downtown Cincinnati, but only about 46,000 enrolled undergraduate students. Someone can make the claim that I should have counted grad students. Maybe. Go ahead and count them up and let me know what you find. (Source for the Undergrads)
Maybe we already have something like this here in Cincinnati. If so, please post a link in the comments section. But if we don’t have this yet, we really should. Having a consolidated place for young adults to turn when they are looking for something fun and inexpensive to do seems like it would encourage them to break the monotony of the house party and bar scene.
I admit – I have a hidden agenda here. By encouraging students to get off campus and experience the amazing things this city has to offer, hopefully they will be more likely to stay here after graduation. When I was at Xavier, so many of my friends came here for the education, and then bolted as soon as they had their diploma in hand. Our colleges and universities draw some of the best and brightest students to Cincinnati, and we as a city need to do everything in our power to keep that talent here. When they leave, they take with them their good ideas on how to better the city. How can we encourage those not from here to stay here?