Conclusion

Colleges and universities have both short-term and long-term economic impact on a region.

In the short-term, purchases and spending by the institution, their employees, students, and visitors leave their mark on regional indicators such as business volume, employment, income, real estate values, and local government revenues and expenditures.

Long term impacts of higher education are seen in the accumulation of human capital for research and development enterprises. Long-term impact occurs through development of human capital, improvement of information available to firms in the regional markets, and the influence on the decisions of firms to locate, remain, or expand in the region.

For colleges and universities economic impacts consist of both "expenditure impacts" and "knowledge impacts."

Expenditure impacts are the amount of sales, payroll, and the number of jobs a college generates over and above what is required to meet totally local demands.

Knowledge impacts result from transmitting ideas to the community. Knowledge can be pre-existent knowledge that is transmitted to students by faculty. It is new to them, thus it increases their human capital. Knowledge can also be research based, where new information is discovered. This knowledge may have great benefits to the general society as well as the local community.

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