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The economic impact of Dalton State College on the Northwest
Georgia region was $96,010,983 in Fiscal Year 2008 (July 1, 2007
– June 30, 2008), according to a study conducted by Dr. Jeffrey
M. Humphreys, director of economic forecasting for the Selig
Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry
College of Business.
This newly-released study, which looked at the impact of the
University System of Georgia’s (USG) 35 institutions on their
regional economies, found that the USG as a whole had a $12.1
billion economic impact on the state of Georgia in Fiscal Year
2008.
According to College officials, Dalton State’s $96,010,983
million impact on the region was broken down into three
categories: $34,506,214 million for personal services,
$13,072,478 million for operating expenses, and $48,432,291
million in student spending.
The Selig Center analyzed data collected between July 1, 2007,
and June 30, 2008, to calculate the University System’s FY2008
economic impact. This work updates a similar studies conducted
on behalf of The Intellectual Capital Partnership Program
(ICAPP), an initiative of the Board of Regents’ Office of
Economic Development. The previous report, based on FY2007 data,
placed the USG’s economic impact at $11 billion. The first study
in the series calculated the USG’s impact at $7.7 billion in
FY1999. The latest $12.1 billion thus is a $4.4 billion increase
since FY 1999 – or a growth of 57% in the system’s economic
impact on Georgia’s communities.
“While our research has consistently shown the important
economic contributions public colleges and universities make to
communities and the state, this latest study supports the
argument that the University System can play an important role
in helping Georgia’s economic recovery,” said study author
Humphreys. “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.”
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. Approximately 39 percent of these positions are on
campus jobs and 61 percent are positions in the private or
public sectors that exist because of the presence in the
community of USG institutions.
“Dalton State’s economic impact on the region includes 1,053
jobs,” said Dr. Henry Codjoe, Director of Institutional Research
and Planning at DSC.
Of those jobs, says Codjoe, 390 positions are filled by
on-campus employees and 663 are off-campus jobs that exist due
to institution-related spending.
The University System’s largest institution – the University of
Georgia (UGA) with 34,180 students – has the single greatest
economic impact: over $2.2 billion on the Athens-area economy,
or 18 percent of the System's total statewide economic impact.
Seven institutions in the metro Atlanta area – Georgia Institute
of Technology, Georgia State University, Clayton State
University, Kennesaw State University, Southern Polytechnic
State University, Atlanta Metropolitan College and Georgia
Perimeter College – accounted for over $4.9 billion of the
University System’s $12.1 billion total, and 40,740 jobs.
"This Economic Impact Report is especially timely now, in this
period of economic distress,” said Terry Durden, interim
assistant vice chancellor of the University System’s Office of
Economic Development. “In addition to what USG colleges and
universities contribute to Georgia's communities through a more
educated society, cultural opportunities and other activities –
our campuses have a powerful 'bottom-line' economic impact on
Georgians across the state.” To download the Selig Center’s
FY2008 report, go to
http://www.icapp.org/pubs/usg_impact_fy2008.pdf.
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