Economic Impact of the College
Direct Employment: During 2002/03, the state of California provided the College of Business Administration 96.3% of CBA’s total budget of $11,268,475. The College employed 147.79 FTE faculty and staff and had a total payroll in excess of $10.2 million. Since these funds are spent in California, they generate additional jobs, business activity, and tax revenues for the state.
Employment Generation: The actual number of people that the College directly employed in 2002/03 was 147.79 FTE faculty and staff. When people are employed by the university, they create a direct demand for additional goods and services in the local economy. A conservative employment multiplier of 1.8 for U.S. universities means that about 199 more demand-side jobs were created in 2002/03 by CBA employment.
Impact of College Spending: Another way that the University and the College benefit California’s economy relates to the local expenditures that they make associated with operating expenses, including purchasing office supplies, services, books and periodicals, and utilities, just to name a few. With a conservative multiplier of 1.9 for this type of economic activity, the College’s direct expenditures of $10,220,466 in 2002/03 translate to almost $9.2 million in incremental gross state product.
Impact of Student Spending: Business student spending (e.g., room/board/utilities, books and supplies, transportation) constitutes a significant direct effect of the College on California’s economy. Based on CSULB estimates of cost of student attendance, each student spends about $15,690 per year on books and supplies, room and meals, insurance, and transportation and personal expenses. Therefore, the College’s 6,201 business majors during 2002/03 spent about $97.3 million in Southern California.
Not all economic benefits and costs of the College are easily measurable. For example, the benefits to society of having a more highly educated managerial workforce in business and industry are great, but they cannot be estimated. Further, the College makes its facilities (in particular, classroom and computing facilities) available to local public schools and not-for-profit community organizations during off-peak periods. Finally, some fraction of what the College receives in General Fund support flows back into the state coffers as incremental tax returns due to the economic activity attributable to the College.