It is no secret to people who live in a college town, residents are insulated from the highs and lows of the economy.

Now, the experts are also finding university students pump dollars into the community.

"We are feast or famine based on Texas A&M University," said Costa Dellis, owner of Café Eccell.

Economists say towns dominated by a large population of college students fare better during a recession.

"The fall is obviously really good because of football and school is back in session," said Dellis.

He owns several restaurants in town including café Eccell. And he says the university feeds his profits.

"If you are not catering to A&M, then you are not thinking about reality, " said Dellis.

The large number of students eating at a local restaurant is not only good for business, but those same students can be a great source of employees.

"Café Eccell is literally across the street from A&M," said Luke Variste, an employee of Café Eccell.

Variste has been a server at Café Eccell for almost 2 years. He's also a Junior Human Resource Development major at Texas A&M.

"We get a lot of business from our professor and students," said Variste.

"A&M really keeps this place together," said Variste.

Economics professor Dr. Thomas Saving says during a recession, people lose jobs or can't find work. So they often head back to school.

"More students come to town, students spend money, said Dr. Saving. "This is a billion dollar operation. This has a gigantic effect on this city."

Dr. Saving also tells us that the college effect doesn't apply to cities as large as Houston. Even though, there are a large number of universities and colleges the population is too big to see the positive the effects.

Not far from here, Huntsville is also considered a college town. An Economics Professor at Sam Houston State says the downturn hasn't affected the area thanks to the university and the prison system.