My daughter’s top choice for college is Colorado College in Colorado Springs (if the money comes through). I just had a hair-raising conversation with a woman about the safety of the town – she attended University of Colorado on the CS campus in the mid-90s. During that time she says some college girls were abducted and murdered, and she feels the dynamics of the town (religious right, military, gun culture) all contribute to a strange and creepy dynamic. She grew up in Denver so it’s not as if the locale was foreign to her. Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone’s kids attend CC and what they think about the town. I had never heard such scary stories, and I have friends my age who graduated from CC and loved it.
My niece and her H graduated in 2004. They both loved CC Their only complaint was that their music didn’t play CS. They had to go to Boulder to hear the bands they liked. That being said, as adults they would have never settled there. Much too conservative a town. They moved to SF after graduating and now live in NYC.
They still tried to convince my S to apply but he wasn’t interested.
I went to CU ( Boulder) back in the dark ages but even then CS was very different type of town than Boulder.
That series of murders was due to one nut job who started back in the 70s. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/man-claims-he-killed-48-people-9-in-colorado
Here is a link to college safety information.
http://ope.ed.gov/security/
COS is a military town (Peterson AFB, AF Academy and Ft Carson). I think it’s relatively safe. CC is a very good college.
As a Coloradan who knows lots of kids who went to CC, I can assure you, safety is not something locals or CC students worry about at all.
One of my kids graduated from CC. This is the first time I have seen or heard concerns expressed about the safety of the campus or surrounding area. Colorado College has to have one of the most attractive locations of any LAC in America.
My brother & his family lived in Colorado Springs when he graduated from university of Colorado- co springs in engineering, I think in 1996, & I don’t remember hearing anything about campus murders.
I thought it was a nice little town, but not enough coffee shops that were not Starbucks, and I would agree with too politically conservative for some college students.
However, Colorado College is a good school and has some unique attributes.
I also doubt it is any more dangerous than say Bellingham. ( although, I prefer Bellingham)
OK, I did just look up crime rate in both Bham & Co Springs, and Co Springs has * significantly* more violent crime.
Including murders. Not sure why.
Colorado College is in downtown Colorado Springs and is in a very safe location. Because there is so much activity on campus, and because of the unique nature of the block plan providing opportunities to venture far beyond Colorado Springs during and between blocks, I don’t think the vibe of the city has an effect on the CC experience. But most importantly CC is absolutely safe. I went there many years ago, and I have 4 nieces and nephews there now. Safety has not been an issue for them. Can your daughter spend a night on campus this spring to see how it feels on campus? That might help. Congrats to her, CC is absolutely an amazing school on sooooo many levels.
We live north of Denver. CO Springs, south of Denver, is know to have a conservative Christian atmosphere. In our 20 years hear, I’ve not heard any issues about crime. The locals that get scared off from Colorado College usually have concerns about the cost and/or the block system (one course at a time … great for some, not for others).
The scenery is fantastic. Anybody that visits Colorado Springs must visit Garden of the Gods, one of the prettiest city parks ever 
https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrTcd5vgAdV7F0A0j8lnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTBsOXB2YTRjBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkAw–?_adv_prop=image&fr=yhs-mozilla-003&va=garden+of+the+gods&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-003
My ds is a junior there now. The campus and area around it are safe. As on any campus, you need to be careful. There is one park a few blocks from campus that my son says he avoids at night, but other than that, he goes where he wants without worry.
It is a very pretty campus and the views of Pike’s Peak are amazing! And I’ll second that Garden of the Gods is not to be missed!
Thank you all! This is all good info and makes me feel better. The real issue now is our financial aid letter is back, and the school is really not doable with their final offer. My daughter originally applied Early Action, and we got a preliminary offer back that felt doable, and we booked a trip so she could visit over Admitted Students day. But unless they change their offer, it’s not in the cards. Has anyone had good luck with appealing an offer from CC? She is a 4.0 student (I’m guessing they all are, though). Do names get thrown into additional scholarship pots at this point in the process?
By the way, that article on the serial killer is brutal. Wishing I hadn’t read it now.
It’s not a completely safe campus. A major arterial street bisects campus, so you student would have to cross it several times per day. Seriously, that’s probably the major threat. But the greater CS area is home to thousands of military families, many young and rootless males, and war vets who face their own particular stresses. That plus the “Evangelical Vatican” cultural component, with so many seekers and judgers, gives the town a special flavor. Plus the subterranean command post in a mountain bordering the city, monitoring for nuclear attack, always gave me the creeps. Colorado Springs is just like nowhere else…