MAJOR IMPACT ON AREA'S ECONOMY
Ironically, sometimes the more familiar we are with something, the more we take it for granted, or don't really comprehend its value. Take, for example, the California State University system and its 23 campuses, one of which is Cal State Bakersfield.
Few people really know what a campus means to a community. They pass by it on their way to work, their children may go to classes there, they know a couple alums, or they may have attended a sporting event or a concert there. But when it comes to the extensive economic, cultural and intellectual worth of the university, most people have no idea of the substantial impact a university has on a community and the state.
Using data from 2002-03, an outside firm (ICF of San Francisco) recently conducted an impact study of the California State University and found that the CSU and its 23 campuses have a dramatic impact on California. In pure economic terms, for every dollar the state invests in the California State University, CSU-related expenditures generate $4.41 in spending. This translates to $13.6 billion annually in economic activity, compared with state support of $3.09 billion.
With the enhanced earnings of the CSU's 1.7 million graduates factored in, the total annual economic impact of CSU expenditures generates a $53 billion spending impact on the state, or an annual return of $17 for each dollar the state invests. The CSU in effect pays for itself.
Locally, a study conducted by Abbas Grammy, a Cal State Bakersfield economics professor, found that Cal State Bakersfield had a $706 million impact on Kern County in 2002-03. CSUB contributes $268 million in direct and indirect spending; it helps increase the earning power of its graduates by $140 million; and it helps improve education-factored productivity by $294 million a year.
CSUB's direct spending of $152 million creates 4,198 jobs in the local economy. The thousands of CSUB alumni who live in Kern County enjoy increased earnings due to their degree. Retired faculty and staff add another $8.6 million to the area's economy. Plus, students spend some $51.4 million in the community.
Both the CSU system and Cal State Bakersfield increase the economic power of the state and its citizens by increasing the knowledge base. The CSU system provides the majority of the skilled professional labor that is critical to the state's knowledge-based industries such as agriculture, engineering, business, technology, media, and computer science.
As CSUB grows, its value to the community will expand as an increasingly educated work force attracts more sophisticated companies with better paying jobs, thus broadening and deepening the local economy.
Quite simply, what both studies indicate is that the state must continue to invest in California's public higher educational systems as an investment in California's future.
Beyond the economics, CSU campuses are leaders in expanding the reach of higher education by serving the state's increasingly diverse population. More than half of all undergraduate degrees granted to Latino, black and American Indian students in California were awarded by the CSU in 2002/03. The CSU is the nation's most diverse university, with 53 percent ethnic minority students, twice the national average for four-year public universities.
In addition, CSU campuses work every day to improve local communities and residents' quality of life. CSU students contribute 35 million hours a year to community service activities ranging from preschool reading programs to public art preservation to health education and literacy projects. At CSUB, for example, students, faculty, staff and alumni contributed 14,000 hours of community service to numerous organizations, and the dollar value of that service is $6.7 million.
California's public universities are appreciated but taken for granted by the public. As these reports show, the California State University and its 23 campuses make an enormous impact on all the state's residents in one way or another. The future of the state depends on the educated people who either work at or come from a CSU campus. When a state's higher educational system flourishes, everyone wins.
Charles B. Reed is chancellor of the California State University system. Horace Mitchell is president of Cal State Bakersfield.
