Well obviously I don't just barge in, "Dlew12, nice to meet you. So what university did you graduate from? But it's pretty easy to tell in most situations if somebody attended college. (E.g. They're a professional. They talk about how they met their significant other in college. "How do we know eachother? Oh, we were frat brothers/dormmates in school," etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.) When people hear I'm from Kansas, a lot of time they ask if I went to KU. It always seems pretty natural - I don't think it's pretentious at all.
I'm not sure if the police academy requires some kind of degree. I could see how that could get touchy when Daris is meeting new coworkers. But come on, there are social cues that could direct you about whether and where the person you're interacting with went to school.
My point is, that if I can find the opportunity to talk to someone about their school, I love to do it, and generally, they do to. I know a lot about a lot of different universities and where they're at, so there's instantly some common ground. Any time anyone talks to me about K-State, I go bananas, even if their only knowledge is that we have an old coach or that Aggieville is a thing.
