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Week of 17 September 1999 Vol. III, No. 6 Feature Article Report shows BU's impact on Bay State By Hope Green The return of students to Boston University each fall is a welcome sight to the owners of local hardware stores, pizzerias, and boutiques that depend on customers from BU. But aside from the business that the institution generates for local retailers, a recent report shows that the University's gown-to-town contributions are a boon to the entire Massachusetts economy. According to Boston University's Economic and Social Impact Sourcebook, an analysis prepared by an independent consulting firm, BU's impact on the commonwealth of Massachusetts totaled $2.2 billion in fiscal year 1998, and taking the multiplier effect into account, the University was directly and indirectly responsible for a total of 38,920 jobs in the Bay State. Sarah Zenewicz (CAS'02) examines a toaster at Economy Hardware on Beacon Street. BU students spend an estimated $240.6 million in the commonwealth of Massachusetts each year apart from the tuition, fees, and other expenditures they pay directly to the University. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky Moreover, BU offered 190 different social and cultural services to the public, such as scholarships to area high school students, health-care services at neighborhood health centers, services for senior citizens, and BU-owned radio stations. An estimated 870 volunteers spent 44,148 hours in University-sponsored community service work, including programs in youth tutoring, recreation, collecting food for shelters, delivering food to homebound people with AIDS, and recycling. The analysis covers the period from July 1, 1997, to June 30, 1998. The latest available economic and employment multipliers from the U.S. Department of Commerce were used to calculate BU's impact on the city of Boston, the Boston metropolitan area, and the remainder of the commonwealth. An institution's impact on a region, the report explains, results from both direct and indirect spending, along with economic multipliers. For example, during 1998, the University accounted for $713.7 million spent in Boston alone. Of that sum, $433.7 million was the University's direct spending for employee salaries and benefits, its direct purchase of goods and services, and direct spending by University students and their out-of-state visitors. In a multiplier effect, direct spending tends to spin off other purchases. Thus the remaining $280 million is a combination of indirect consumer spending -- as purchases by Boston University employees are classified -- and local spending by the suppliers of goods and services. The total of all the University's direct and indirect spending was $2.2 billion. BU provides a number of services to local communities that would otherwise have to find funding on their own, the analysis points out. These include police patrols in neighborhoods surrounding the Charles River Campus and the Medical Campus in the South End. Benefits to the city of Boston in fiscal 1998 totaled more than $28 million, consisting of $21.6 million in direct payments and $6.5 million in services. This represents an increase of 6.5 percent over fiscal 1997. And despite its tax-exempt status, BU has paid more than $23 million in real estate property taxes to the city of Boston since fiscal 1981. Concerning employment, the report cites the following: Boston University is the 4th-largest employer in the city of Boston and is among the 25 largest employers in the state. In fiscal 1998, BU accounted for 13,626 jobs in the city of Boston, 35,832 jobs in the Boston metropolitan area, and 38,920 jobs statewide. The University directly employed 22,443 individuals who lived in Massachusetts, and an additional 16,447 jobs resulted from University spending. In other Sourcebook highlights, the University: maintains sidewalks, streets, and MBTA platforms at an annual cost of $875,000. ranks second in the nation in the number of international students enrolled, with 4,603 students from 145 foreign countries. annually awards more than 50 four-year, full-tuition scholarships to Boston high school graduates. Through the Medeiros Scholarships, the University has offered nearly $8.5 million since 1987 in scholarships to the graduates of archdiocesan schools in the region. houses more than 70 percent of its full-time undergraduate students. In fiscal 1998, BU housed 9,563 students in campus residences. More than 17,000 students lived off campus in the Boston metropolitan area. "BU's impact extends far beyond the educational and research programs it provides," says David Lampe, associate vice president for University Relations. "This report clearly shows the broader economic, social, and intellectual benefits that the University brings to the city and the state."