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How Much Do West Virginia College graduates Add To The State's Economy

Executive summary In this report we estimate the overall economic benefits that West Virginia public college and university graduates generate for the state's economy. We account for the likely productivity increase associated with the attainment of higher education as well as the additional spending in West Virginia that results from higher wages and salaries associated with college graduates. In our analysis we consider the 2009-2010 class of graduates of West Virginia's public colleges and universities who worked in the state in 2012 – a total of just over 6,300 men and women. Based on work and income patterns from 2012 and prior years, we begin by projecting the additional income that these graduates will earn in the state over the coming decades above what they likely would have earned absent the attainment of higher education. We then use a sophisticated economic modeling system to estimate the additional economic activity that will likely occur in West Virginia due to their income premiums and likely productivity increases generated by their higher levels of educational attainment. Finally, we compare our estimated increase in economic activity to the public spending associated with their college education. Overall, we estimate that the total economic benefits to the West Virginia economy associated with increased productivity and spending resulting from the 2010 public college and university graduating class is nearly $6 billion over our 20-year period of analysis, 2013-2032. By comparison, we estimate that $1.4 billion was spent to educate these men and women beyond high school, of which approximately $404 million was derived from direct state appropriations to colleges and universities, $92 million from state-supported scholarship programs, with the remainder originating from tuition, gifts, and other sources.