College students with champagne taste on a beer budget can graduate from Ramen noodles to caviar just by selecting the right location to get an education.

With inflation on the rise, colleges and universities are feeling the pinch and passing along costs to Gen X consumers. That's one of the reasons BrokeScholar said it conducted a study of 100 U.S. cities to find those with those with the best combination of low costs both on and off campus.

The Los Angeles-based platform, dedicated to helping students afford a higher education, analyzed each city in their study sample across three categories: Student demographics (percent of population in their twenties, and percent of population never married); affordability (cost of living index, average college tuition, and median rent versus the national ratio); and fun and opportunity (density of bars, unemployment rate, and a walkability and bike score). 

 The final score was calculated by averaging the score of the three categories to produce a final score and ranking. 

Here, in ascending order, are the top 10 best college towns for cash-strapped students to thrive on a ramen budget:

10. Kalamazoo, Mich.

Whiz kids enrolled at Kalamazoo College or Western Michigan University can find plenty of science, technology, engineering and math-related employment opportunities in this Midwestern college town. Kalamazoo has a population of 76,106. The city scored highest in demographics, score a 6.92 out of 10. It had an affordability score of 5.82 and a fun and opportunity score of 3.11.