Spending by colleges and universities stimulates economic activity and creates jobs. Spending by students and visitors generates additional economic activity and employment.
College graduates are healthier, more giving of their time and charity, and more civic minded.
Colleges and universities serve the public through a variety of programs, events, and facilities, from libraries to concerts to athletic competition. Illinois higher education increases the nation s productivity. These are among the myriad ways that Illinois higher education benefits Illinois and its citizens. Those benefits are ably and thoroughly documented in an economic impact study undertaken by Robert W. Resek , a professor of economics at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, and David F. Merriman, associate professor of economics at Loyola University in Chicago. Spending by colleges and universities produces an economic ripple more like a tsunami that accounts for one job per every 12 households in the state.