Quote:
Originally Posted by Prison Bitch
There are 80,000 KU alumni in Kansas City and another 15,000 in Lawrence-Topeka so I am suspicious of that low a number from a school bigger than KU. I'd guess that is the number of dues paying alum and not the total.
SIU reports 12,000 alumni there.
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Where else is an Kansas grad going to go? It's Lawrence, Topeka or Kansas City for most.
I wouldn't be shocked if there are more SIU alums in St. Louis than Illinois. It's the closest major city to SIU, and southern Illinois really fits Missouri culture much more than the Lake Michigan portion of the state (where all the population is).
Illinois grads have Chicago as a primary beacon. Indianapolis is closer than St. Louis and Milwaukee is about as close, and they, like a lot of Big Ten schools, send a lot of grads to the East Coast. More options.
I assume most universities have more alums in their "feeder" cities than reported by official alumni counts. Missouri's count in KC is low. So it wouldn't surprise me if there are more than 4500 U of I grads in St. Louis. But enough to make claims about Illinois splitting or "covering" St. Louis? No way.