GHC touts economic impact rating
In a report showing that the University System of Georgia state economic impact grew to $18.6 billion, Georgia Highlands College holds the second highest economic impact among state colleges in Georgia for fiscal year 2020.
GHC’s economic impact was over $170 million, and ranked second among the system’s nine state colleges. The only state college that ranked higher in terms of output impact was Georgia Gwinnett College in metro-Atlanta.
The GHC impact area is Floyd, Polk, Bartow, Chattooga, Gordon, Cobb, Paulding, Douglas and Carroll counties.
While USG’s economic was up 0.6% over fiscal 2019, the system actually produced slightly fewer jobs in fiscal 2020, generating 155,010 jobs directly and indirectly compared to 157,770 in fiscal 2019.
GHC also ranked second only to Georgia Gwinnett College in terms of total employment impact among the USG system’s state colleges.
GHC was attributed to directly or indirectly generating 1,708 jobs in its service areas. According to the report, GHC has 532 on-campus jobs as well as 1,176 offcampus jobs that exist due to institutionrelated spending.
Fiscal 2020 marked the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in Georgia, forcing the university system to shut down in-person instruction and switch to online classes during the last couple of months of the spring semester that year.
“With strong support from the state and significant planning from our campuses,
USG’s economic on local communities across Georgia held steady despite a challenger year,” said Teresa MacCartney, the university system’s acting chancellor.
The annual economic impact study conducted by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia found that every $1 spent directly by the system’s 26 colleges and universities generated an additional 47 cents for the surrounding region’s economy. Of the $18.6 billion in economic impact in fiscal 2020, $5.9 billion was spent within those local communities.
Of the jobs the system generated, 34% were on-campus positions, while 66% were off-campus jobs in either the public or private sectors.
Another point of local interest outlined in the report is the August University campus in Rome.
The total economic impact of that campus in FY 2020 includes:
$1,146,322 in initial expenditures $1,7020,523 in output (sales) $1,268,289 in gross regional product $959,602 income
12 jobs generated
A second study the Selig Center conducted found that system graduates in the Class of 2020 on average will earn an additional $862,162 during their careers as a result of their degree.
Those graduates who end up working in Georgia are expected to bring in a combined $175 billion in lifetime earnings, of which 34% can be attributed can be attributed to their degrees, according to the report.