With a total of 1,378 employees, the State University of New York at New Paltz is the third largest employer in Ulster County, so you”™d expect it to have an economic impact on the region. But how much? Well, $274 million to be exact.
College President Steven Poskanzer announced the findings of a study on the college”™s economic impact for the 2005-2006 fiscal year at a Jan. 14 press conference on the campus. The report provides a breakdown of where those dollars come from and how they play out in the county and region.
Its economic impact increased substantially from the total of $195.5 million that was revealed in a previous study of the 2003-2004 fiscal year. Poskanzer attributed the increase to a healthy state budget, which resulted in the hiring of more staff and more money spent in salaries, as well as improvements in calculating the data. The overall economic impact on the state in 2005-06 was $321.6 million, he said.
Poskanzer said the direct spend by the college”™s 7,800 students was $83 million. The college paid $50 million in salaries and $13.9 million in direct spend for goods and services. Of that, $5.8 million went to Westchester County, which was the location of the contractor hired for to build the athletic and wellness center; $3.4 million was spent in Ulster County (of which $1.5 million went to New Paltz); $2.8 million in Dutchess; and $1.5 million in Orange. Poskanzer said 1,250 of the college”™s 2,400 vendors are in Ulster County.
Direct spend by visitors was some $500,000, most of it on lodging and meals. Each student had an average of 1.5 visitors a year, which Poskanzer said was a conservative estimate. The remaining 46 percent of the $274 million is comprised of $126.3 million in indirect spend.
Poskanzer said 70 percent of the college”™s spend stays in Ulster County, with 94 percent remaining in the Hudson Valley. The multiplier effect of those dollars is significant: 1,820 additional jobs, including plumbers, carpenters and painters, were created by the college, resulting in a total of 2,791 jobs, the study found.
Its total revenues for 2005-2006 were $130.5 million, of which 41 percent consisted of state appropriations, 15.6 percent was from grants and gifts, 23 percent from tuition and fees, and 20 percent from auxiliary enterprises. It had an equal amount in expenses.
But the college”™s contribution is not limited to dollars. “SUNY New Paltz has an important non-monetary impact on the Hudson Valley and state,” Poskanzer said.
The school was selected as the “hottest small state school” in the nation in the 2008 Kaplan/Newsweek “How to Get into College” guide. The number of freshman applications has increased 40 percent since 2000, and the college accepts only about a third of them. The student-to-faculty rate is 13:1, which is very low for a state school.
Some of the college”™s success Poskanzer attributed to the physical environment, which he characterized as “strong natural beauty in a dynamic college town with easy access to New York City.”
The school is also known for its diversity, with minorities making up 21 percent of the student population. Ninety-three percent of the students are from New York state, of which 43 percent are from the Hudson Valley, 14 percent from New York City and 17 percent from Long Island. Four percent are international.
The impact of the school is also felt through the contributions of graduates. Of the more than 52,000 alumni, 44 percent live in the Hudson Valley and 73 percent live in New York state. In the past five years, there have been 1,381 MBAs graduated from the college”™s School of Business; 1,386 graduates majoring in the arts; 857 graduates in radio and TV production and public relations; 571 in engineering and the sciences; 293 speech therapists: and 3,286 teachers, school superintendents and principals.
The school is also a cultural hub for the region, Poskanzer said. It has the largest public library in the region, an art museum with regularly scheduled exhibitions, and numerous theatrical and musical performances. It will be hosting the Empire State Games in 2009. SUNY New Paltz “is a powerful, visible example of academic achievement,” said Poskanzer.
It also connects with the community in myriad ways. Forty-two percent of the faculty collaborates with members of the local community in the course of their research and teaching. Its student internships with local businesses are significant, totaling 602 in the 2006-2007 academic year. Companies have partnered with academic departments for research fundamental to their business and hospitals and other health care facilities have teamed up with student nurses.
Sidebar/center for research
SUNY New Paltz”™s engagement with the community will deepen with the opening of the Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach, which is being partially funded with a $290,000 federal grant. The center will be directed by Gerald Benjamin, after his term as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences ends this spring.
Benjamin, a distinguished professor in political science, was a member of the Ulster County Legislature from 1981 to 1993 and has been involved in numerous efforts to reform the state and local government. He chaired the commission that proposed the first charter for Ulster County, adopted by popular vote in November 2006. In 2007, he was appointed to Gov. Eliot Spitzer”™s commission on Local Government Efficiency.
The center will conduct and publish research on regional topics; lead the college”™s academic outreach to local governments, non-profits and for-profit organizations; and train newly elected regional officials, college President Steven Poskanzer said.
Asked what some of the core areas of research might be, Benjamin said local government reform, restructuring and performance was one. The center might “collaborate on studies to bring social responsibility expertise, understanding and analytic capacity” to economic development initiatives, he said. ”“ Lynn Woods
