DawsonTimes.com

A newly released report shows that the economic impact of North Georgia College & State University on Lumpkin and surrounding counties, including Dawson, was nearly $165 million with an employment impact of 1,559 jobs during the 2008 Fiscal Year.

The report, produced by the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, measured university and student spending and associated jobs in Lumpkin, Hall, Dawson, White, Forsyth, and Union counties.

“The report shows that the university system continues to be one of the state’s major economic engines, and North Georgia plays a vital role in helping support the economy in our region,” said Dr. David Potter, president of North Georgia College & State University.

About 70 percent – $115.4 million – of North Georgia’s total economic impact was due to initial spending for salaries and benefits, operating supplies and expenses, and other budgeted expenditures, as well as spending by the students who attended the institution in FY2008. Re-spending – the multiplier effect of those dollars as they are spent again in the region – accounted for another $49.2 million.

North Georgia’s enrollment for fall 2008 exceeded 5000 students, and the university employs approximately 500 faculty and staff.

Together, the 35 institutions of the University System of Georgia (USG) made a $12.1 billion economic impact on the state’s economy during Fiscal Year 2008.

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 percent 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 economy recover,” said study author Dr. Jeffrey M. Humphreys, director of economic forecasting for the Selig Center.

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.

Humprheys said that for each job created on a campus, 1.6 jobs exist off-campus because of spending related to the college or university.

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 2.6 percent of all the full- and part-time 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.

To download the Selig Center’s FY2008 report, go to http://www.icapp.org/pubs/usg_impact_fy2008.pdf.

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