BINGHAMTON — Between salaries, student spending, and all the other dollars Binghamton University spends to keep campus running, it added up to nearly $1 billion in economic impact on Broome and Tioga counties and more than $1 billion across the state in fiscal year 2011. Those findings come from a study report issued by the […]
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BINGHAMTON — Between salaries, student spending, and all the other dollars Binghamton University spends to keep campus running, it added up to nearly $1 billion in economic impact on Broome and Tioga counties and more than $1 billion across the state in fiscal year 2011.
Those findings come from a study report issued by the university, which said that for every $1 the state SUNY system contributes to Binghamton University, it generates more than $8 in economic impact for the state.
According to the report, Binghamton University students spent $96 million to help bolster the local economy last year and visitors to the school spent another $7 million, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The university itself spent $120 million on capital costs and construction, $123 million on goods and services, and $275 million in wages and salaries. When you factor in student and visitor spending, that adds up to a combined direct and indirect spending total of $622 million in fiscal year 2011, university President Harvey Stenger says.
The report, compiled by the University’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, uses standard formulas to assess the impact of the university’s economic output and also looks at the impact it has on jobs, human capital, and return on investment.
The report, based on fiscal year 2011 which is the most recent year available, shows that Binghamton University accounts for an estimated 12 percent of the gross domestic product of Broome and Tioga counties through its direct and indirect expenditures. When applied to the Binghamton Metropolitan Area regional multiplier, that figure grows to $965 million in total annual economic impact for the region.
Stenger, who pointed out that the report covers a year when SUNY budget cuts were in effect for the university, says he expects the report for fiscal year 2012 to surpass the $1 billion mark for the region.
While that number is impressive, there is more to the university’s impact than just those figures, Stenger contends.
“My favorite part of the report is that we measure how many students volunteer in the community,” he says. During the 2010-2011 school year, 6,578 students volunteered 280,000 hours to area organizations. “It’s huge,” Stenger says. “And nobody told them they had to do that, and nobody paid them to do that.”
Other university impacts on the regional economy that are highlighted in the report include business and industry partnerships the university has around the region, such as the Center of Excellence in Small Scale Systems Integration and Packaging; the Center for Microelectronics Manufacturing in partnership with Endicott Interconnect Technologies, Inc., Cornell University, and the Flex Tech Alliance; and the proposed Southern Tier High Technology Incubator the university hopes to open in 2015, Stenger says. The hope is that the incubator will house 10 start-up companies when it opens in 2015, and that those companies will go on to grow and generate their own economic benefits for the region, he says.
Binghamton University will continue to generate other economic benefits as well, he says. “One of the things we’re going to see grow over the short term are more companies, more technologies, and more patent licenses coming out of Binghamton University,” he says. The university’s faculty currently generates about 15 to 20 patents each year, and only goes after patents that are most likely to spawn a company or provide license revenue, he says. Last year, the university received about $750,000 in license revenue, he says.
And none of those figures factor in the impact the university’s SUNY NY 2020 plan will generate, Stenger notes. Under that plan, approved earlier this year, the university will grow its student population, add new faculty and staff, and construct a $70 million Smart Energy Center.
The economic-impact report also tallied the number of Binghamton University alumni residing in New York and continuing to contribute to the state’s economy. About 57 percent of all alumni are still in New York, and more than 12,600 of them are still in the Southern Tier.
Binghamton University employs nearly 5,000 faculty, staff, and student workers, and supports an additional 5,500 full- and part-time jobs in the two-county region, and 225 full- and part-time jobs beyond the region.
Contact DeLore at tdelore@tgbbj.com
