The University of Vermont has issued a new study that shows the college has an economic impact of over a billion dollars on the state.
“The Economic and Community Impacts of the University of Vermont” looks at direct, indirect and induced spending. It concludes that in 2014 UVM had more than $1.33 billion in economic impact on the state. The college directly or indirectly supported more than 11,000 jobs and generated more than $78.2 million in state and local taxes in 2014.
UVM Vice President for Research Dr. Richard Galbraith says past economic impact studies had been done in house, but UVM sought unbiased baseline information. “The methodology is to look at the direct effects and then the indirect effects and then the induced effects. And having somebody quantitate them in a more rigorous way gave us verification that they really were very large. And the other big thing is what's the effect of the research environment?"
This is the first study that assesses the implications of research activity at the college. It concentrated on the College of Medicine, which generated $403 million in economic activity and $18.8 million in taxes. Dr. Galbraith says that was intentional because the Larner College of Medicine accounts for 65 to 70 percent of the overall research portfolio. "The quota that comes from other colleges is progressively increasing and they've capitalized on that research. Because one of the things that this report doesn't capture is what happens to the interesting new findings once they leave the university? We can’t quantitate in this kind of a study the added bang for the buck when somebody invents a new drug or a new device or a new whatever it is. That has a whole life all of its own.”
The report noted that there is a “misperception that public universities don’t generate tax revenues.” It detailed that through local spending, and the direct and indirect support of jobs, UVM generated $78.2 million in state and local tax revenues. Again, Dr. Galbraith. “We don't want people to think that because we're a state college that we just take money from the state and we don't give back. In fact we give back more than we are given.”
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin had not yet read the full report, but was not surprised to see the summary conclusions, noting UVM has long been a driver for job creation and the economy. “It creates the graduates that allow us to have the young people to meet the workforce needs of this state. And right now my biggest challenge is, and any employer will tell you this, we can't find enough trained folks to do the jobs that we have. And employers are saying to me give us more workers that are trained. UVM’s training them. That's going to keep building on that economic success.”
The study was done by Tripp Umbach, a Pittsburgh-based consulting firm. The $25,000 cost was paid with private funds.
