Can you recommend colleges in the Southeast with a good college street/main drag?

Parent Cafe
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My sophomore (HS class of 2022) is really interested in going to a college with a good main drag that is walkable from the campus. She doesn’t drive yet and is pretty nervous about it. We live in Chapel Hill, so she is not wanting to go to UNC, but is looking for something like Franklin Street, full of funky shops, somewhere else.

She is planning on either majoring in Creative Writing, or English with a Creative Writing concentration. So far she is considering Appalachian State and Mary Baldwin University in Staunton VA. We recently went to visit a friend who is at MBU and my daughter loved Staunton. UNC-Greensboro and possibly Guilford are also on the table. And we need to look at UNC-Wilmington again as it actually offers Creative Writing as an undergrad major (most schools just have it as a concentration for English majors), but UNC-W is not close to the cool and funky part of Wilmington, unfortunately.

She doesn’t seem to care much about whether the college is big or small or coed or women’s, just wants to be able to walk to a cool coffeeshop or bubble tea place. Of course, it needs to have a good writing program and it’s a big plus if it’s scenic.

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of some other places in the Southeast, primarily NC, VA, SC, maybe GA or TN that might interest her. Mary Baldwin was not at all on my radar until this friend of my oldest started there and gave my teens a custom tour. My sophomore loved the town even in the freezing rain. Hoping y’all might have some more suggestions like that.

I don’t know if we would do a state school in another state (aside from NC) unless she could get a scholarship. From what we have heard some of the private LACs, like MBU, are pretty generous, so we’re more likely to go that route for an out of state school I think. We did tour SCAD last year on our way to Florida for vacation, but I don’t think we have the budget for that.

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College of Charleston is a good location right behind King Street and the college calendar is opposite of the Charleston tourist calendar.

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Oops. Just saw no state schools. Sorry.

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Well there’s a school just 30 minutes away from you with this cool street called Hillsborough. UGA is in Athens, which is a great place to be. I don’t know that it’s all on one street like Franklin St, but it’s all right there and walkable. Then there’s UVA and VT. Are you willing and able to pay OOS tuition with such similar schools in NC?

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UGA. It’s not a “main drag” but a very cool/fun downtown right across Broad Street from campus. I know it’s not in the South, but U of Wisconsin is another great college town.

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Belmont or Vanderbilt or Lipscomb in Nashville are all pretty close to 12 South which has lots of fun shops etc.

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Did you rule out FL?

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Thanks for all the suggestions.

Probably not willing to pay OOS at another state school unless she managed to get some serious scholarship money, which is probably not likely at a public university. She’s a good student, but not superb, y’know? I do like the Athens vibe and think that is what she is looking for in a town.

COC looks good, but not sure how much it would cost us. Seemed like it could get pricey for OOS.

NCSU is a possibility I guess. She prefers smaller towns, but we should probably give it a look. I think it actually has a pretty good writing program. Might have her do their summer writing program next year, but it conflicts with the one she is doing at Hollins this year. NCSU might be a bit of a reach for her, too. I think she can probably get in App, though. Have thought about Meredith, too. Worth checking out a little closer.

I will check out Nashville. That might be a little far away for her. I think she wants to stay in something more like a 4-5 hr radius, but might be worth checking out.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions and keep 'em coming!

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William and Mary! doesn’t get any funkier than DOG St in Colonial Williamsburg. lol!

I know it is OOS, and it wasn’t what you meant (authentic Colonial Bubble tea!), but it does have its appeal. Just had to toss it out there because the thought cracked me up. I thought it was pretty fun back in the day.

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My oldest daughter is graduating from UNC Greensboro in May and my youngest will be part of the Fall freshman class. UNCG has a nice little street close to campus with coffee shops, various restaurants and fun shops. The campus also has a grocery store on campus that’s a surprisingly good size; students have the option of shopping there using flex points from the meal plan. I think that UNC campus has been very underrated but we’ve been pleased.

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Take a look at University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA. Princess Anne Street and William Street downtown are pretty fun.

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College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.

Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.

Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida is strong in performing arts.

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Flagler has St. Augustine which is great.

But it’s not he school for everyone.

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No college is the “school for everyone”.

The important point is why is, or isn’t, any particular college the school for that individual.

OP asked for suggestions based on limited information and I made suggestions that might be of interest based on the info shared.

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Once this student has a junior year GPA and SAT or ACT score, it will be easier to suggest colleges.

Flagler should be affordable!

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Thanks for the suggestions.

I think Florida is a little farther from home than she will want to go, but I will throw them in the mix for her. She’s got two years to change her mind.

CoC looks good, but not sure how affordable it will be coming from OOS. I’m afraid W&M is going to be expensive from OOS, too. Will have a look at Mary Washington, but I see it is also a public.

I think some OOS LACs may offer us more of a break on tuition. I know my kids’ friend who goes to MBU said she got $20k a year in merit, which takes a lot off the total. I don’t think we would qualify for financial aid anywhere.

If she can get merit scholarships that will open some of these OOS publics up, but I’m not willing for her to get student loans and be burdened with debt and I don’t want to spend all of our savings either. She doesn’t love any of these OOS schools enough to do that either.

I would really love to hear about any LACs with cool surroundings that I may not be aware of. A Chapel Hill-Athens-Charlottesville sized town would be great too. Boone and App State are definitely in the running.

drdj, I think UNC-G is likely in her mix too, and affordable. Her art teacher took them there for a field trip and she liked what she saw. She just needs to check out the writing program. I know UNC-G is super strong in performing and visual arts, although it seems like it may be a little bit of an unknown for folks outside of NC. Just not sure how their creative writing program is. I know, and know of, lots of successful performing arts folk who went to UNC-G and are now making a very successful living performing in Hollywood, NYC, etc. I think I saw one of their grads is the lead in Hamilton now. I think it could have a very good vibe for her if Creative Writing gets some of that Arts feel for her and less of, say, the Education dept feel. Tate Street is definitely in the running for what she is looking for as far as a walkable main drag feel.

We will also check out UNC-Asheville, but I don’t know if it has too much of the funky, cool part of Asheville right around it. She has a friend whose older sibling went there for the first two years of his NCState Engineering degree and loved it before transferring to NCState to finish up. It seems like a pretty cool program NCSU engineering has where you can do the first two years at any state school in NC.

I was surprised and delighted with Mary Baldwin and Staunton and am hoping there’s another little surprise school out there like that. I think she really liked MBU and funky Staunton, but I am worried that MBU’s strengths are more in Shakespeare and performing arts, rather than Creative Writing. Hollins and UNC-W are very strong in Creative Writing, but don’t have the funky coffee shops nearby to work on your great American novel, etc. Right now I am kind of pulling for App State because I think their writing program is pretty good and the breadth of class offerings are greater so she might find something else she likes that could help her pay the bills, too. But MBU could work, too.

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I’ve I’ve read that either Mississippi State (or is it U Mississippi…honestly I don’t know) and its surrounding community is a hotbed of southern writers, and a funky, artsy and rather liberal place compared to the rest of Mississippi (perhaps, in a similar way that new Orleans is a “different” kind of southern).

I really don’t know…I have lived in New Orleans but never spent time in Mississippi. Could be interesting. Homeplace of Faulkner, and all that. I read an article about this in a major newspaper not so long ago (was it the New York Times?) Sorry to be so vague…it’s just something that I read and noted as interesting, like a southern “Kenyon” in the creative writing program, but, of course within a bigger school and in a small city. I know it’s another OOS school, but I think there’s very generous merit aid there…just a thought. Might be worth checking out.

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College of Charleston awards a lot of merit scholarships to out-of-state students. Most are in the amounts of $21,000, $16,000 or $8,000.

Non-resident tuition is about $33,500 (not including books, room & board).

Not sure if non-resident can obtain resident status after a year or after being awarded a scholarship in excess of $500 as is, or was, the practice at another state school.

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Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida costs $19,500 for tuition & about $12,000 for room & board. Offers scholarships.

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Look at Agnes Scott’s writing program… Decatur is a charming town! Likely to have generous merit aid depending on her stats. I don’t think you can generalize on costs at OOS and private LACs; many times the $20K merit at an LAC isn’t enough to make up the difference. In addition you should decide now what you’re comfortable spending on an annual basis and discuss it with your daughter… early and often.