Colleges Assess Local Economic Impact

These days, colleges and universities nationwide are getting to be savvy marketers--and one popular method of making their presence felt is by trying to quantify their economic value. Among Orange County’s institutions of higher education, producing economic impact studies has become the thing to do lately.

In a report released this week, the five colleges and universities in Fullerton claimed to produce an annual economic impact of $656.2 million and 12,885 jobs in the county. The schools--Cal State Fullerton, Fullerton College, Hope International University, Southern California College of Optometry and Western State University College of Law--say the figures reflect their combined contributions, both direct and indirect, to the local economy.

A few weeks ago, UC Irvine released a similar report, stating that its economic impact on the county reached nearly $1.2 billion in the 1996-1997 school year. That includes state and federal funds, as well as local spending by UCI students from outside the county, it said.

“The educational, intellectual, and community service roles of these higher education institutions may be well known,” the Fullerton report stated, “but their contribution as employers and sources of economic activity in the region has not received similar recognition.”

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Patrice Apodaca covers economic issues for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-5979 and at patrice.apodaca@latimes.com