UConn’s impact $5.3B, school reports
The University of Connecticut’s economic impact in the state totals $5.3 billion, including direct spending, indirect tax revenue and nearly 26,000 jobs, according to a new analysis released by the school Tuesday.
That’s an increase from the $3.4 billion impact calculated in a 2013 analysis, which Lloyd Blanchard, associate vice president of budget, management and institutional research, attributed to growth in operating and capital spending, fueling “higher economic impact.”
The $5.3 billion calculation includes $3 billion “generated directly by the university,” and $2.3 billion in “spillover effects” on industries and households.
Just over half of the economic output, $2.7 billion, was attributed to Storrs, and $2.2 billion to UConn Health. The regional campuses in Stamford, Hartford, Waterbury and Avery Point accounted for $383 million, according to the report.
Research spending accounts for $485 million; more than one-third of that was at UConn Health. According to the UConn economists, the university supports more than 16,000 jobs directly, and just under 10,000 indirectly.
UConn is one of the state’s “great competitive advantages,” Gov. Ned Lamont said. He compared the university and its impact to that of other universities on their surrounding areas in other states, including North Carolina and Texas, and said “we’re beginning to build out our university network as well, with UConn as the hub of our economic future.”
The report was created internally, by three members of UConn’s Economics and Agricultural and Resource Economics departments. UConn commissioned the 2013 analysis from Pittsburgh consulting firm Tripp Umbach. Rather than paying for it to be done externally on contract this time, spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said, “we had our own experts do it.”
Asked if he thought the state should independently assess UConn’s impact, Lamont said, “No, I’m happy they took the lead on this.”
President Thomas Katsouleas outlined three financial priorities that he said he’s discussed with legislators: maintaining the state’s block grant to the university, finishing the capital projects that are already approved and underway, and addressing the unfunded pension liability.
Fringe benefit costs are holding back the university’s efforts to expand research, he said, because faculty are at a disadvantage when they apply for federal research funding. Part of the tuition increase approved earlier this year included covering higher fringe costs.
Katsouleas said UConn is using “one-time funds” to subsidize some of those costs for researchers applying for grants, which will lower the rate to a level comparable with peers, about 43 percent, but that’s “a $6 million hit to our budget.”
“We took it upon ourselves to, in the short term, artificially reduce those rates,” he said. “It’s not something we can do forever, we’re looking for a long-term solution with the state.”
“It’s an obligation incurred by the citizens of the state, through their elected officials,” he said. “It’s effectively shifting it to parents and students disproportionately.”
Keeping state funding level “allows us a stable base on which to generate new revenue from philanthropy, from research funding and other means,” he said, including new master’s degree programs that bring in tuition money. He said there are “opportunities to grow” at all the regional campuses, including in the increasingly popular graduate business programs in Stamford and Hartford.
The report includes a breakdown of the number of current students, alumni and UConn employees in each city and town in the state, the average financial aid award to students from the municipality and the number of UConn Health visits in 2018.
Stamford sent the most students to UConn, at 986 students. There were 415 students from Bridgeport and 356 students from New Haven, according to the report.
The largest number of alumni are in West Hartford, with 5,745, followed by 4,625 in Stamford and 3,705 in Glastonbury.
The 938 Mansfield residents who are employed at UConn led the state, followed by West Hartford and Farmington, while West Hartford, Farmington and Hartford residents tallied the most UConn Health visits.