Onondaga Economic Impact Facts
Onondaga Community College plays a signifcant role in the local economy and is a sound investment from multiple perspectives. Students beneft from improved lifestyles and increased earnings. Taxpayers beneft from a larger economy and lower social costs. Finally, the community as a whole benefits from increased job and investment opportunities, higher business revenues, greater availability of public funds, and an eased tax burden.
Onondaga Helps State and Local Economy
- The OCC Service Area economy receives roughly $51.6 million in regional income annually due to OCC operations and capital spending.
- The regional economy is $898.7 M stronger due to OCC
- About 5% of OCC’s students come to the area from outside regional boundaries, bringing with them monies that would not have otherwise entered the local economy. The expenditures of OCC’s out-of-region students generate roughly $698,000 in regional income in the OCC Service Area.
- OCC activities encourage new business, assist existing business, and create long-term economic growth. The college enhances worker skills and provides customized training to local business and industry. It is estimated that the OCC Service Area workforce embodies about 3.3 million credit hours of past and present OCC training.
- OCC skills embodied in the regional workforce where former students are employed increase local income by $681.4 million. Associated indirect effects increase income by another $165.0 million.
- Altogether, the OCC Service Area economy annually receives roughly $898.7 million in income due to past and present efforts of OCC.
Onondaga Leverages Taxpayer Dollars
- The state and local community will see avoided social costs amounting to $16 per year for every credit earned by OCC students, including savings associated with improved health, lower crime costs, and reduced welfare and unemployment. This translates to $3.6 million in avoided costs to the State of New York each year as long as students are in the workforce.
- Students beneft from higher earnings, thereby expanding the tax base and reducing the burden on state and local taxpayers. In the aggregate, OCC students generate about $43.3 million annually in higher earnings due to their OCC education.
- OCC yields a return on government investment. State and local government allocated around $40.3 million in support of OCC in fiscal year 2007. For every $1 of this support, taxpayers see a cumulative return of $4.40 over the course of students’ working careers (in the form of higher tax receipts and avoided social costs).
- State and local government see a rate of return of 16% on their support for OCC. This return compares very favorably with private sector rates of return on similar long-term investments.
Onondaga Helps Students Earn More
- A total of 25,621 credit and non-credit students attended the college in FY 2007. About 88% of these students stay in the region initially after they leave college, contributing to the local economy. H Students see their annual income increase by $190 per year for every credit completed at OCC
- Education increases lifetime income. The average annual income of a one-year certifcate graduate at the midpoint of his or her career is $37,200, or 82% more than someone without a high school diploma, and 17% more than a student with a high school diploma. The average income at the career midpoint of someone with an associate degree is $43,900, or 115% more than someone without a high school diploma, and 38% more than a student with a high school diploma.
- OCC students enjoy an average annual income increase of $190 for every credit completed.
- Throughout his or her working career, the average OCC student’s discounted lifetime income (i.e., future values expressed in present value terms) increases by $7.10 for every $1 invested (tuition, fees, books, and wages given up to attend).
- Students enjoy an attractive 20% rate of return on their OCC educational investment, recovering all costs (including wages foregone) in 7 years.
For additional information please review the 2008 EMSI Economic Impact Report (pdf)
