Community & Economic Impact Report
As a comprehensive national university, SMU is also a business enterprise with significant economic impact on DFW.
| Operations (Local) |
$486 million | |
| Scholarships and Need-based Aid | $123 million | |
| Capital Projects | $110 million | |
| Total | $719 million | |
| Student/Visitor Spending | $142 million | |
| Total Impact of SMU Local Spending Plus Student/Visitor Spending | $861 million | |
| Impact of Annual Spending by SMU Graduates | $6.2 billion | |
| Total SMU Combined Annual Spending Impact | $7 billion | |
The regional economic impact of local spending by SMU combined with spending by SMU alumni living in the DFW region totals more than $7 billion.
BUILDING THE FUTURE
Construction of facilities such as Caruth Hall, one of three new buildings for engineering, injects millions of dollars into the local economy.
The impact of SMU spending totaled approximately $861 million in fiscal year 2011, about $300 million more than the estimated economic impact of hosting a Super Bowl.
SMU's spending is broken into three categories: 1) operations; 2) scholarships and financial aid; and 3) capital projects. SMU has a further recurring impact in the form of spending by students and visitors drawn to DFW because of the University.
The economic impact of SMU's regional operations spending for FY 2011 was approximately $486 million.
The Collins Executive Education Center in Cox School of Business was built specifically to serve area professionals with courses and other programs.
SMU spends approximately $123 million annually on financial aid and scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students.
The University raises significant contributions for scholarships and also acts as a conduit for federal and state spending on financial aid and scholarships.
SMU has built or renovated more than 40 facilities since 1995, contributing to the University's economic impact on the region.
The 20-year period from 1995, when the University adopted the Centennial Strategic Plan, through 2015, the centennial of SMU's opening, constitutes a period of unprecedented campus construction.
RETAIL SPENDING IMPACT
SMU student and visitor spending contributes to the University's economic impact on DFW.
SMU also boosts its value by attracting visitors to the region. SMU generates spending by students who choose to come to SMU from outside the region and non-local visitors to campus drawn by meetings, performances, exhibits and events such as Homecoming, reunions and graduation ceremonies. These visitors stay at hotels, frequent restaurants and generally bring new spending to the region.
About 40,000 SMU graduates live and work in the DFW metropolitan region. Not only do their skills help make North Texas a desirable place to live and work, their recurring spending has significant impacts on total economic activity in the region.
SMU events such as reunions, family weekends and home football games attract out-of-town visitors to Dallas and stimulate spending.
The combined economic impact of SMU's annual spending for operations, scholarships and capital projects, added to the total impact of spending by visitors, totals approximately $861 million.
Adding the economic impact of spending by SMU's graduates to University spending yields a total annual impact of approximately $7 billion.
These expenditures directly and indirectly support approximately 45,000 permanent jobs that pay about $2 billion in salaries, wages and benefits.
This economic activity boosts property income by about $1.3 billion. And though the University is tax-exempt, business activities and spending associated with SMU are responsible for more than $39 million in annual revenues for state and local taxing jurisdictions.
Combined with taxes generated by SMU graduates, the total fiscal impact of the University is almost $401 million annually.
In the past several years SMU has built or renovated more than 40 campus facilities, including many used by members of the DFW community. A partial list of new and future facilities includes:
* In progress or planned
The economic impact estimates in this report were calculated by Bernard L. Weinstein, Ph.D., and Terry L. Clower, Ph.D. Weinstein is adjunct professor of Business Economics and associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute, both at SMU's Cox School of Business. From 1989 to 2009 he served as director of the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of North Texas.
Clower is the current director of the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of North Texas. He has served as associate director, project manager, staff researcher and statistical analyst on numerous projects reflecting experience in labor relations, economic and community development, public utility issues, transportation and economic impact analyses.
The economic impact estimates provided in this report were calculated based on the IMPLAN economic input/output model developed by the Minnesota IMPLAN Group (MIG, Inc.), a leading provider of economic planning services whose clients include the Federal Reserve and Stanford University.
Input-output models track how spending flows through a regional, state or national economy, thereby creating additional economic impact sometimes referred to as "the multiplier effect." For example, departments within SMU purchase office supplies from local vendors. These vendors, in turn, hire employees, purchase shopping bags, use inventory-counting services and engage other professional service providers such as accountants. The impact totals in this report refer, therefore, to the combination of direct spending plus the multiplier effect. (The total reported for SMU spending on scholarships represents the actual expenditure, since the economic impact of out-of-town student spending is calculated as part of student/visitor spending.)
Importantly, the impacts in this report account for the effects of spending by the University as well as its employees and its vendors spending a portion of their earnings for goods and services in the local economy. That is, each of these impacts is adjusted to account only for purchases from local entities. For example, some specialty lab equipment is available only from out-of-area vendors. These purchases thus have little effect on the local economy, and the value of their impact is adjusted accordingly.
In this section of the report, the terms "economic impact" and "impact" are used interchangeably.
While recognizing that SMU is a tax-exempt institution, this report includes estimates of the tax revenue generated by SMU spending. University expenditures generate tax revenue for local and state governments in the form of sales and use taxes, property taxes and government revenue from permit fees and licenses. Tax revenue totals also include estimates of the value of consumption taxes from spending by employees of the University and its vendors and suppliers.
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