Ah, spring, the time of year when high school seniors’ thoughts turn to ivy-covered halls, grassy lawns shaded by autumntinged oaks and (close your eyes, moms and dads) frat parties and Saturday game days. As those students contemplate their college acceptance letters and their parents focus on tuition bills and student loans, their minds certainly turn also to considering the qualities they seek in a quintessential American college town.

As a college professor at a campus in upstate New York and the father of a high school senior, I have heard a multitude of reasons why a student will choose one school over another, but spending four years in such an idyllic setting is the experience most students, even if they cannot yet articulate it, truly want.

Of course, such communities hold an appeal for those other than young academics and their visiting parents. Travelers enjoy visiting active and progressive places where art and culture are flourishing, new architecture is exciting, and where hotels, restaurants, and sporting events are within walking distance of Main Street. For many approaching retirement, college towns hold great appeal for these same reasons. The communities presented here offer such an experience, with colleges that truly inform the environment.

Boulder is nestled in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies, 5,430-feet above sea level and about 45 minutes from Denver. Students at the University of Colorado enjoy living in a prosperous, energetic town with a vibrant college neighborhood filled with pizza joints and coffee houses, bars, music clubs and clothing shops. There is a plethora of sports activities on campus, recreational opportunities in the mountains outside of town, and excellent academic programs in architecture, business, engineering, law and music.

“I think Boulder is a wonderful city that provides a lot of outdoor activities and community events. There are bike paths everywhere, and lots of hiking paths along the foothills. From my experience, it is a very active and fit community and is full of good energy,” said Patrick Campbell, a 21-year-old junior studying architecture.

Although some students may attend college here just for the frat parties and powder skiing, Boulder is a thriving and diverse cultural center as well where Tibetan, Asian and Native American influences add to the town’s eclectic mix. Many high tech and scientific research firms have located here, providing this beautiful mountain town with sophisticated patrons for its many gourmet restaurants and music, dance and theater venues, and job opportunities for graduates who don’t want to leave the altitude and attitude.

The University of North Carolina is the oldest state-supported university in the country. Chapel Hill, home of UNC’s main campus, was founded in 1819 on a hill where the original chapel once stood. In this sweet mid-southern town the average age of its residents is 24, and females outnumber males 54 percent to 45 percent. Preferred activities include playing Frisbee on campus lawns, strolling with friends down Franklin Street on a warm fall afternoon, and cheering the Tar Heels during the annual home game against Duke at the Dean Smith Center.

It’s not all fun and games in Chapel Hill, however. The university has an excellent academic reputation for undergraduate education, and its graduate schools, including the Kenan-Flagler Business School, and the schools of Law, Medicine, Pharmacy and Public Administration, are nationally recognized. One of Chapel Hill’s major benefits is its location just west of Triangle Research Park, a corporate complex developed in 1959 where companies such as IBM, GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks maintain large research and development facilities. The presence of TRP, along with UNC, has made Chapel Hill a highly sought-after town for permanent residency as well as for st udents, resulting in off-campus housing prices that are relatively high compared to other UNC campuses in the state.

“Living off campus is more expensive here than in other college towns, but comparable to living on campus. …Is being within easy walking distance of campus worth the higher price? For me it definitely is,” said Meghan Davis, a 21-yearold senior at UNC.

If you have not yet heard of Gambier, Ohio, you are not alone. Gambier, site of Kenyon College, is a “sleeper,” an undiscovered gem in the middle of the state’s fertile Kokosing River Valley.

“The vast majority of students at Kenyon live on campus, and this is probably the most predominant contributing factor to the close-knit feeling of Kenyon and Gambier,” said Kate Hellman, a Kenyon sophomore. “The mayor of Gambier is a professor at Kenyon, you can walk into the dining hall and eat meals without swiping an identification card, and students and professors alike take Pilates classes and play basketball together.”

The college and the town have a symbiotic relationship, so close physically and spiritually that the college claims the entire town center as the school’s de facto student union.

This friendly and cooperative connection between 1,600-student Kenyon College and a town only slightly larger may be too close for some students looking for a bigger cast of characters (you certainly won’t get lost in the crowd here). To give you an idea of Gambier’s small size, a survey of town residents who commute to work showed that 50 percent walk to their place of employment. Parents, take note, the average class size here is only 14.

Cornell’s campus sits on a hill overlooking the town of Ithaca and Cayuga Lake, a 40-mile-long “finger” lake in central New York State. Add 150 nearby waterfalls, including 215-foot Taughannock Falls, rolling terrain with vineyards and gorges, a popular downtown pedestrian-only “commons,” a history that goes back to the 1700s, and you can see why students and parents love the place.

The university is Ivy League, with numerous undergraduate degrees covering everything from Asian Studies to Theatre Arts. Its professional schools of Medicine and Law are well known, as is the School of Hotel Administration and the Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Of course, it is often not just the natural beauty of a campus or the availability of a great library (Cornell’s is rated No. 4 in the country by Princeton Review) that makes the college experience so memorable. Nightlife and socializing are often considered le plus important factor when choosing a college.

“After fraternity parties we often go over to College Avenue where we always run into people we know at one or two in the morning,” said JC Sheppard, a Cornell sophomore.

Spend a few days in Middlebury, in any season, even the muddy spring, and you will find it extremely difficult to leave. This picturesque and historic Vermont town has lots of white colonial homes with green or black shutters, brass eagles on the door, and fluttering American flags on the front porches. But there are also organic food markets, funky live-music clubs and a diverse group of students. Because Middlebury is a very small town and 95 percent of students live on campus, this is a close-knit community. The residence halls are grouped into five intimate Commons areas, which the college calls “living and learning communities.” Off-campus housing in Middlebury is affordable but only open to seniors, who must enter their names in a lottery for the limited openings available.

Living on campus, however, is not a big drawback. Diversions include the beautiful new Gwathmey Siegeldesigned library and Kenyon Arena, home of Middlebury’s NCAA championship men’s hockey team. The nearby town center conveniently allows students to walk or bike to Main Street for shopping at the Ben Franklin Store or Main Street Stationery. The campus was rated a high No. 13 on Princeton Review’s Best Quality of Life list.

“I think the best things about living in Middlebury are its cosmopolitan and sophisticated atmosphere while still maintaining its small-town Vermont lifestyle, and all the outdoor activities available nearby, everything from hiking the Long Trail to sailing on Lake Champlain to skiing at Middlebury Snow Bowl and other areas,” said Tom Brant, a 19-year-old Middlebury sophomore.

Sun-splashed Tempe is home to Arizona State University, a huge state campus that defines this Phoenix suburb.

“Everyone I know on campus seems to really love living here,’’ said Brianna Barcelo, 21, junior and cheerleader for the ASU Sun Devils basketball team. “Even students who grew up in nearby towns look forward to living here, and out-of-town students really like the weather, the parties, our sports teams and the beautiful campus.”

Although ASU is rated one of the top party schools in the country and the Mill Avenue district buzzes with social activity nearly every night, the town has an intellectual side as well. ASU’s Biodesign Institute introduced the world’s first gene detection platform; the university’s Global Institute of Sustainability researches more balanced approaches to urban growth; and Richard & Bauer’s modern Interdisciplinary Science & Technology Lab exemplifies energy- efficient architecture. The ASU Art Museum houses the wonderful Ceramics Research Center, and concerts are performed at Gammage Auditorium, the last public structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

One of the major developments in town, for both year-round residents and students, is Tempe Town Lake, a two-mile-long lake that was created in 1999 using reclaimed water. This area offers lots of recreational amenities, including the opportunity to sail on a desert lake.

As the parents among us know, the next four years will fly by in a blur of learning and self discovery for our college-bound seniors, but now that we’re on the other side of the equation, we can only hope the years pass as quickly for us as we write check after check after check. For the perfect match, though, it’s worth every penny.