Why do many college towns have such a large sphere of influence? What affects how extensive it is?

[ListMan38]

Will speak to Michigan and Mississippi, as those states are where I've lived

Ann Arbor (U of Michigan): the big thing there is just how large U of Michigan is

East Lansing (Michigan State): I'd say its kinda baked into the area, Lansing probably is Lean/Likely D even without the campus next to it.

Houghton (Michigan Tech): Houghton is really small, as is Michigan Tech, so not much influence

Kalamazoo (Western Michigan): 50/50 on size vs being baked into the area

Ypsilanti (Eastern Michigan): its literally between Ann Arbor and Detroit lol

Detroit (Wayne State): should go without saying

Mount Pleasant (Central Michigan): kinda baked into the area

Oxford (Ole Miss): Tends to get a lot of more left-leaning transplants from nearby states, plus being not far from Memphis tends to contribute. Still, the outer parts of Lafayette county are very right-leaning, which evens out the County in voting.

Starkville (Miss State): Kinda the opposite of Ole Miss as it seems to be a lot more in-state entry, where the left-leaning Mississippians tend to self-select (being in the Golden Triangle area)

Hattiesburg (Southern Miss): Southern Miss is basically all of Forest County's population

Alcorn State/Delta State/Mississippi Valley State/Jackson State: They being HBCUs in the Delta makes them kinda baked-in to the Delta politics