DENVER — A new university-sponsored study, “The Economic and Social Impact of the University of Denver,” found that DU has a $2.3 billion impact on Colorado’s economy.
EConsult Solutions, Inc. employed IMPLAN, an industry-standard input-output modeling software program, to estimate the economic impacts. Those impacts were estimated at three geographic levels — the campus region, the city of Denver, and the state of Colorado.
“I think it is a significant reflection of the various different activities and tentacles that the University of Denver has in the city and in the state. We're an incredible research-intensive university, so our research work is having an impact locally and nationally in that regard. But our students [are] graduating, you know, at least 1,300 undergraduates every year, up to 2,000 graduates every year. They're having a huge impact in the workforce,” said DU Chancellor Jeremy Haefner.
Haefner said the report found that most DU graduates remain in Colorado after graduating.
“In fact, 70% of the students that we graduate stay in the state of Colorado. That's a huge benefit. And when you think about 70% of the students that we get are from out of state, that means that we're really contributing to the workforce with new, fresh individuals that are making a major contribution,” Haefner said.
Read the full report below:
The report also looked at the university’s impact on housing and tourism.
“There's a lot of issues and challenges that higher education is facing right now, and the notion of public trust in higher education is a real concern for leaders like myself. But when you see this impact that we have on creating an educated workforce, a workforce and a population that is going to make major contributions to communities in Colorado, in Denver as well, you really begin to see that what we do and how we do it serves our state and our country in extraordinarily important ways,” Haefner said.
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