ESI was hired to perform an economic impact study for Clemson University, a land grant higher education institution in South Carolina. This included regional, statewide, and national economic impacts, as well as examining alumni impact; and statewide and national fiscal impact.
Using industry-standard modeling IMPLAN software, ESI created a custom input-output model to calculate impacts from direct spending (capital investments and annual operations), ancillary spending (students and visitors), and University athletics of Clemson University. ESI also calculated the alumni wage premium, or the average difference in wages between Clemson graduates and those with one less degree of educational attainment within a given geography. To calculate visitor spending, ESI created profiles based on each event and the type of visit (local, day trip, or overnight). As a land grant institution, Clemson has extension offices in all 64 counties in South Carolina. ESI highlighted various qualitative community impacts in this report. Lastly, ESI quantified research and innovation work, examining how state funding positively impacts the state’s economic competitiveness.
ESI found that Clemson University generates $6.4 billion in annual statewide economic impact and $10.6 billion in national economic impact. Tax revenue in South Carolina reaches $172.4 million. Additionally, the school supports 37,100 jobs across South Carolina. For every dollar the State invests, the University generates $35 in economic output.
When examining alumni impact in the three geographies (four-county region, state, and country), ESI found that most of the graduates stayed in South Carolina, and more than half of those stayed in the state.
ESI found that the estimated average alumni wage premium in South Carolina was $35,790 for those with Bachelor’s degrees and $23,990 for those with Master’s degrees. The estimated average across the United States was $32,450 and $16,320 respectively.
ESI also calculated the estimated economic impact from the additional earnings (the wage premium) and found that it totaled nearly $2.7 billion in South Carolina and over $6 billion nationally.