EXCELLENCE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. A new study says UW-Eau Claire generates hundreds of millions in dollars in local spending annually, some of it because of construction projects like the new Davies Center, which opened last year.

Conversations about money and college usually revolve around costs: ballooning tuition bill for students, for instance, or the millions of dollars in state aid provided by taxpayers. Rarely do we hear about the benefits, namely all the economic activity created by having a university in town. A new study offers a glimpse at the latter half of the equation, and the benefit is big: Last year alone, UW-Eau Claire generated $317 million in spending, about $22 million in tax revenue for local and state governments, and nearly 3,400 jobs, according to the analysis by Professor Wayne Carroll, chairman of UWEC’s economics department. Carroll’s number-crunching was based on 2012 fiscal year data, and considered UWEC’s purchase of goods and services, construction project spending, and spending by university employees, students, and visitors. Those five categories add up to $317 million, he calculated, and $156 million of that was spent in the Chippewa Valley. When the “multiplier effect” is considered ­– after all, local spending begets other local spending – that total rises to $210 million, Carroll estimated. Spending by Blugold students alone accounts for $71 million (that’s a lot of textbooks, futons, and fermented beverages). To put it all in perspective, UWEC got $34.3 million in support from state taxpayers last year while its economic activity boosted state and local tax coffers by $21.9 million. In addition, because getting college diplomas typically translates into higher incomes for graduates, millions more in taxes will be generated in the long run, Carroll pointed out. As Interim Chancellor Gilles Bousquet added, “The bottom line is that UW-Eau Claire is making significant economic contributions to the Chippewa Valley.”