UA’s Economic Impact on State Exceeds $1.1 Billion

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama is an important investment for the state, university officials told a gathering of news media representatives this week during an on-campus luncheon.

The University distributed a report that detailed the university’s economic impact on Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, West Alabama and the state.

UA President Andrew Sorensen said the university’s overall total economic impact on the state is “more than $1.1 billion per year. The University is an excellent investment opportunity for the state, providing a 6.1 percent annual rate of return on state appropriations.”

Sorensen was joined in the presentation by Dr. J. Barry Mason, dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, and Dr. Carl Ferguson, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research, which conducts extensive research on the University’s economic impact and prepared the report distributed Tuesday.

Mason said each home football game contributes about $10 million to the Tuscaloosa economy, but that the University’s impact goes far beyond the monetary impact.

“For example, the University enhances the quality of education, health care, the arts, music, literature – those things that are a necessary complement to our economic development initiatives. These aspects directly and indirectly improve the quality of life of all Alabamians, and make our state a better place in which to work and live,” Mason said. He also noted that UA attracts business and industry to the state and region.

Ferguson said The University of Alabama “is much more than a football team and a campus. It’s an investment for the state of Alabama, not a burden, not an expenditure.”

Highlights of the report, which can be found at http://cber.cba.ua.edu/pdf/UAimpact_all.pdf, include:

• UA Direct Expenditures in 2000 – $498.5 million
• Total Economic Impact of UA on Tuscaloosa County in 2000 – $752.2 million
• Total Economic Impact of UA on Alabama in 2000 – $1.101 billion
• Total UA employment in 2000 – 4,379 full time workers

Sorensen also noted that U.S. News and World Report now ranks UA among the top 50 public universities in the nation for the first time, and the business and law schools are also ranked in the top 50 in their respective categories. He also said that from 1998-2000, only three of the 12 universities in the Southeastern Conference saw their academic reputations rise, and that UA, with a 15 percent increase, led the way.