PSU pumps most into local economy

By DARYL LANG
Collegian Staff Writer

Penn State may look most familiar in blue and white, but the Centre Region can't help but see green.

A Penn State study released yesterday shows the University Park campus pumped almost half a billion dollars into the local economy in 1996-97.

Students, who spent about $170 million outside the university, contributed the most to the region, according to the report.

The study, which draws on data from Penn State and six area municipalities, estimates Penn State's local economic input was $437 million.

The university's presence generates at least 56 percent of the employment for the Centre Region, according to the report.

Jim Mann, director of the Downtown State College Partnership Inc., said the increase in visitors to University Park has been particularly significant.

After students, visitors account for next largest impact on the economy.

Football games, the most popular draw, brought about 434,000 visitors from outside the Centre Region.

Including the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, more than a million people from outside the region visited Penn State in 1996-97, according to the report.

The study also tracked the salaries of more than 14,000 University Park employees, which account for about $103 million of the local economy.

Taxes paid by Penn State employees made up at least a quarter of local governments' operating budgets.

Penn State also generates a ripple effect on the local economy by encouraging businesses and individuals to move into the region, the study says.

Centre County Commissioner Keith Bierly, quoted in a press release, credited Penn State with giving the county the lowest unemployment rate in the state.

"No county in Pennsylvania benefits from an educational institution as much as Centre County benefits from Penn State," he said.

The study was commissioned by Penn State through the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of the Senior Associate Vice President for Finance and Business.