A new economic report released showed students exactly what kind of financial benefits they get from attending NIC.
The report, filed by Economic Modeling Specialists, Intl. (EMSI), showed that while the student body may invest $95.4 million a year in the college, they’re actually receiving $341.4 million back from their education, at an overall 3.6% benefit/cost ratio.
The 9.5 million not only includes tuition costs, but also takes into account extra incurred spending, with the biggest component being opportunity costs.
“The way students should interpret that is if they give NIC one dollar, NIC is basically giving them back three dollars and sixty cents,” said ESMI Research Economist Tim Nadreau. “If I was a student, that’s a game I would play for quite some time.”
ESMI also showed the important role students have to play in the local economy.
The “alumni impact” of the college has generated 112.5 million dollars total.
Nadreau said of all the numbers presented, he felt this one was the real story.
“The point of the college is not spending, the point of the college is the education it provides,” Nadreau said.
The report takes all the students from the that have ever attended NIC, and subtracts those that have been jailed, moved away, retired, become unemployed or died, with only the contributing workforce of the counties accounted for.
The report also revealed that $19.2 million dollars is annually added to the economy by students that relocate here from outside NIC’s service area.
Overall, NIC makes a 32.9 million dollar net contribution to the regional income annually.
Nadreau said while this may not seem like much when compared to NIC’s over 62 million dollar yearly operating budget, the numbers can be deceptive.
Nadreau compared it to the way a new car impacts the economy.
While a new car may be sold for 50,000 dollars, to say the full cost is the impact on it’s local economy would be deceptive, as the majority of the dollars generated from the sticker price will almost immediately leave the region to join the larger national and international economy.
In this instance, Nadreau said EMSI has already taken those losses into account and subtracted them from the equation, making 32.9 million a solid, honest number.
Nadreau said that number should be considered a big job creating addition to the region.
Also discussed was the direct benefit taxpayers see annually from contributing to the college.
ESMI found that although NIC takes 30.4 million dollars from the public coffers every year, taxpayers ultimately receive 44.3 million dollars in return.
While 1.5 percent cost benefit is smaller than students, Nadreau said this doesn’t make the numbers any less positive.
“Students are making a private investment, and getting a private return, the state is in essence making a public investment and most public investments don’t generate a cost ratio above one,” Nadreau said. “That’s fifty cents more than the state had to invest in infrastructure, that’s fifty cents on the dollar more that they have to invest in other types of public endeavors.”
Ultimately the report found NIC contributes $164.6 million a year to the region.
“Students are really making a killer deal here,” Nadreau.
