12-1-04
Study Reveals Local Economic Impact of Penn State Behrend
Penn State today released a study by Tripp Umbach and Associates, Inc., demonstrating that Penn State, with an annual statewide operational impact of $6.1 billion, is the single largest contributor to the state's economy. Included in the study are facts that reveal the economic impact of Penn State Behrend in northwest Pennsylvania.
"As Pennsylvania's land-grant university, Penn State has always played a major role in growing the economy," said Behrend CEO and Dean Dr. Jack Burke. "With this report, we now have specific figures to show that Penn State Behrend has an annual operational impact of nearly $159 million in northwest Pennsylvania."
According to the study, Penn State Behrend has a $7.3 million impact annually with spending for capital improvements, good and services, and supplies; a $13 million impact for faculty, staff, and technical service employees' spending; a $26 million impact resulting from student spending; and a $22.6 million impact resulting from spending by visitors to conference, sporting, cultural, and alumni events.
The study includes comparisons of Penn State's operational impact with that of other industries. More than $1 out of every $17 tourism dollars generated annually in Pennsylvania can be attributed to Penn State, and Penn State currently generates more annual economic impact than the combined effect of the state's airport hubs, professional sports teams, and arts and cultural organizations. With more than 35,000 employees in 2003, Penn State is the largest generator of total employment among non-governmental entities.
"Penn State Behrend attracted more than three million dollars to support research activities in each of the past two years," Burke reported, while the entire university attracted more than $545 million to Pennsylvania from outside sources to support research. According to the Tripp Umbach study, research conducted at Penn State supports more than 16,000 additional jobs in the Commonwealth.
Tripp Umbach is a national market research firm specializing in economic development. To complete the study, the firm used impact research tools developed by the American Council on Education (ACE) for the measurement of college and university impact. ACE methodology has been used for hundreds of impact studies throughout the United States and in Pennsylvania, where they used the same methods for a multi-university study of the impacts of medical schools. Using the ACE model, Tripp Umbach was able to quantify the total direct and indirect economic impact of Penn State.
Data for the study was supplied not only by Penn State University Park, but by each Penn State location. Data was also collected through surveys administered to business owners and alumni. Tripp Umbach also drew secondary-source data from census records, Bureau of Labor Statistics Information, county records, and spending data from other studies completed for recent projects throughout the commonwealth.
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