Honeymoon Coffee, a coffee shop right across from the University of Evansville is experiencing a rush of students. Ciarra Ritter is making a fall-themed cold brew drink as customers file in.
This little strip of businesses right on Weinbach avenue draws college students for the pizza, the Chinese food and the coffee.
Tia Tolbert is a grad student in the physical therapy department. She’s on her tablet on a couch working on a gross anatomy exercise.
“A lot of local and small businesses get a lot of support for our through college students just because of their locations,” she said.
These colleges and universities from time to time will publish a report in detail on how they affect the surrounding communities, and most of that is linked to supporting or creating jobs.
UE completed their study, like many others in 2020. The economic analysis report says UE attracted more than 114,000 visitors and added $144 million to the Indiana economy.
The statewide Community College Ivy Tech, has also reported directly and indirectly supporting jobs.
Statewide, Ivy tech reported contributing $3.9 billion in overall economic impact.
“We're back from pre-pandemic numbers in terms of our enrollment, our budget as well,” said Chancellor Daniela Vidal from Ivy Tech Community College Evansville. Their operational spending is now surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
They spent more than $23 million in 2018-2019 and about $24.5 million now. Payroll spending is also comparable. Expenditures and salaries are up.
“So we can say, we say that a lot of these numbers at this point would be representative of the impact that we would have in our Evansville region.”
The point in mentioning payroll and spending, is that those dollars create ripple effects beyond the college itself — such as an estimated 3,700 jobs supported by Ivy Tech in their economic analysis.
UE reportedly supported 1,300 jobs.
School is back in at UE and business is picking up, said Slice pizza shop owner Tom Rehl
“I've seen an uptick here lately, since school started last year, not so much, but this year, yes, definitely. We're starting to see an uptick,” he said.
These numbers also bear out for Honeymoon Weinbach manager Samantha Price, who is busy making food in the back.
“I would say it slows down a lot during the summer and winter, which obviously shows that students make a huge impact here,” she said.
Of all the regional colleges the most recent study was published by Western Kentucky University. Just this week, in fact.
According to their report WKU added $134 million in income to the five Regional Campus service areas including Owensboro. That number is $528 million for the Bowling Green area.
WKU spokesperson Jace Lux said it’s important to share these numbers, and for the university to fully understand the impact that it is having on the region in which it's located.
“I also think it's important for the region to understand the important role that colleges and universities play in their communities,” he said. “Not every community has a college or university. And I think it This demonstrates that it's a real benefit to the region, to the state, to support higher education and to have a college or university that does contribute in this way.”
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