Report: MC has $55 million annual impact on community

Study looks at student spending, employment and more

Marietta College released a study Saturday measuring the economic impact of the college’s presence on Washington and Wood counties.

Based on the combined operating budget, student and visitor spending, and construction expenditures, the study calculates a total economic impact on the area of $55 million last year, using best practices from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

It’s the first such study commissioned by the college since 2012, and embraces considerably more detail than the previous study.

“It was time to do this,” college president William Ruud said this week. “The economic impact of the world changes, and it was important that we identify the issues, determine how we are good partners in the community.”

Ruud also noted the study will be helpful in informing prospective donors what kind of economic driver the college is, especially considering its planned capital campaign.

The form of the capital project will depend on whether the city agrees to close Butler Street where it crosses the campus between Fourth and Seventh streets. The city has commissioned a traffic impact study, and public meetings have been scheduled for Dec. 12.

“We’re looking at building a new student center, a college commons, having even more economic impact,” Ruud said. “This says, ‘Hey, we are a strong economic driver, we will continue to move jobs and the economy to make Marietta a great place to live.'”

The study was done by an economic development specialist and a professor of rural economic development at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University. It used 2017 data for the college, including its operations budget, student enrollment and visitor numbers and construction expenditures. The combined operations budget, student expenditures, visitor spending and construction totaled about $33 million.

By comparison, the Marietta city government operating budget for 2018 is about $32 million.

The study applied Bureau of Economic Analysis models to create direct, indirect and induced economic impact, which totaled $55 million for last year.

With its own faculty and staff and indirect and induced jobs from the college’s economic activities, it supports about 511 jobs, the study concluded.

The study found, not unexpectedly, that students and visitors who come to Marietta for college events such as athletic competitions and arts performances have a significant effect on food and beverage businesses.

Michael “Moon” Mullen, proprietor of Over the Moon Pizza on Front Street, said he regularly sees students, visitors and college faculty in his restaurant.

“I certainly can confirm I see visitors, lots of parents and families supporting the college’s athletic teams. It’s an easy lunch for somebody before or after the game,” Mullen said. “A couple of days ago I met some folks from Detroit who were in town for the Marietta College women’s hoops tournament, and that sort of thing happens pretty regularly.”

Mullen, who is a Marietta College alumnus and former mayor of Marietta, said the college’s impact goes well beyond the dollar value of its presence.

“It’s part of the lifeblood of the community,” he said. “It brings such an interesting and diverse group of people to town, new folks coming in every year. I recognize people in town who used to be students, who have stayed, and become regulars of Moon Pizza.”

From the offices of the Marietta Area Chamber of Commerce at 100 Front St., chamber president and CEO Carrie Ankrom has a front-row seat from which to view the college’s effect on the downtown district.

“I have noticed more of an influx of visitors any time during college events,” she said. “There is definitely a difference downtown, and even out Pike Street. When there are big events at the college, this is just a busier town altogether.”

According to the study, the direct impact of spending by visitors who come to college events is about $4.4 million. Off-campus spending by students contributes to the support of about 25 jobs in the food and beverage sector alone, according to the study.

The college’s impact, however, extends well beyond dollars and cents.

“It promotes our area altogether,” Ankrom said. “The students, parents, staff are a staple in our community. Even during the flooding earlier this year, Dr. Ruud was just a phone call away. Lots of sports teams and other groups helped our businesses move up and out away from the flood waters. It’s great to see the interaction between the college and businesses continue to grow, the work they’ve done on the sports fields and campus buildings, it just makes Marietta a more appealing place for people to come to. They come as students, maybe stay afterward, possibly live the rest of their lives here.”

Greg Delemeester, the Milton Friedman Economics Chair at the college, said the study tries to capture the concrete economics of the college’s relationship with its home communities, but the relationship goes well beyond that.

“It doesn’t measure the intangibles, the long-run economic development considerations, the stock of human capital and knowledge,” he said. “Keeping young people here, creating cultural amenities, this looks at the dollars and cents, which is only a part of the essence of the college’s value.”

Beyond the immediate economic impact, Delemeester said, the college is embarked on capital campaigns to improve its athletic facilities and has been involved in community partnerships to improve the city.

“The Peoples Bank Theatre, that’s a nice example of the community working with the college, and there’s the McDonough Leadership Program, students and faculty volunteering in the community, student groups formed as business consultants, the entrepreneurship program extending out into the community,” he said.

The methodology by which the overall economic impact of the college was calculated, Delemeester said, is a standard one used by the BEA.

“My understanding is that this is a very conservative estimate,” he said.

Ruud has ambitious plans for the college, based primarily on increasing enrollment from its current level of about 1,100 students. When asked what the community can do for the college, he urged people to stop being modest about Marietta.

“The first thing is to brag on Marietta,” he said. “Sometimes, we’re kind of ‘Aw, shucks, golly’ … be proud of it. I’ve lived in many places and I’ve never seen anything like Marietta. Be proud. Engage with us as we have events, as we’re doing things, come and use us. Much of what we do is free. Come and walk the campus, attend when we have speakers, debates, theater productions, athletic events, some of them are only $5 or $10.

“The big thing is, tell people you know that coming to Marietta to pursue your dreams is a great thing.”

Marietta College economic impact (2017):

•Operating budget: $26,203,321.

•Student spending: $1,914,441.

•Visitor spending: $4,422,748.

•Construction spending: $736,529.

•Total: $33,277,039.

•Calculated impact on Washington and Wood county economies: $55,043,601.

Source: The Economic Impact of Marietta College.