College Town
Spartanburg has the highest per capita college student population of any major city in South Carolina. With its six diverse institutions of higher education, Spartanburg is South Carolina's “College Town.”
Initiated by Mayor Bill Barnet, the consortium of six institutions of higher education, known as “The Colleges of Spartanburg," includes Converse College, Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic, Spartanburg Methodist College, Spartanburg Technical College, University of South Carolina Upstate and Wofford College.
The goals of this not-for-profit consortium are to:
• capitalize on the advantages offered by the large number of diverse colleges in order to create educational, social and service opportunities for students
• create economic and brand development opportunities for the City
• create and sustain partnership advantages among the colleges themselves.
Founded in 2003, College Town's first official event was the South Carolina Humanities Festival held on the campuses. Other joint services projects, like the Day of Service, were a success and plans for other events, such as a leadership summit and intramural sports activities are underway.