Augusta, GA – The University System of Georgia (USG) has released a report that shows its economic impact on the state of Georgia is significant, even in the midst of a statewide economic downtown. The economic study, conducted by the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, shows that the 35 USG institutions, together, made a $12.1 billion economic impact on the state’s economy during Fiscal Year 2008.
In addition to the $12.1 billion in total impact generated by the University System in FY2008, the study determined that Georgia’s public higher education system is responsible for 108,405 full- and part-time jobs – 2.6 percent of all the jobs in the state – while approximately 39 percent of these positions are on-campus jobs, a majority – 61 percent – are positions in the private or public sectors that exist because of the presence in the community of USG institutions.
The report quantifies the economic benefits that the University System of Georgia’s institutions convey to the communities in which they are located. It was determined that $8 billion (66 percent) of the $12.1 billion in total economic impact was due to initial spending by USG institutions for salaries and fringe benefits, operating supplies and expenses, and other budgeted expenditures, as well as spending by the students who attended the institutions in FY2008. Re-spending – the multiplier effect of those dollars as they are spent again in the region – accounted for another $4.1 billion (34 percent). Researchers found that, on average, for every dollar of initial spending in a community by a University System institution, an additional 51 cents was generated for the local economy hosting a college or university.
The Augusta area receives a substantial economic benefit from the presence of both Augusta State University (ASU) and the Medical College of Georgia (MCG).
“People often hear how ASU and MCG provide jobs and a stable labor market, but this study ‘quantitatively’ demonstrates the economic impact that ASU and MCG have on the local/regional economy,” says Dr. Mark Thompson, the Cree Walker Professor of Economics in the Hull College of Business at Augusta State.
“ASU and MCG are major economic drivers on the local area. The tangible impacts include jobs and output, but the intangible benefits include educating the next generation, leading to a more educated workforce, and developing new/innovative technologies through research that will continue to improve our standard of living,” he adds.
Augusta State’s economic impact alone was estimated to be over $190 million.
“This does not measure the impact that the institution has on neighboring South Carolina,” says Dr. Thompson.
“I suspect the impact may be higher after incorporating the neighboring counties of Aiken and Edgefield, South Carolina.”
Dr. Jeffrey M. Humphreys, director of economic forecasting for the Selig Center, says that the research has consistently shown the important economic contributions public colleges and universities make to communities and the state. “For each job created on a campus, there are 1.6 jobs that exist off-campus because of spending related to the college or university. These economic impacts demonstrate that continued emphasis on colleges and universities as a pillar of the state’s economy translates into jobs, higher incomes, and greater production of goods and services for local households and businesses.”
The University System’s largest institution – the University of Georgia (UGA) with 34,180 students – has the single greatest economic impact: $2.2 billion on the Athens-area economy, or 18 percent of the System’s total statewide economic impact.
To download the Selig Center’s FY2008 report, go to http://www.icapp.org/pubs/usg_impact_fy2008.pdf.
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