“Despite the sour economy, Widener continues to hire employees and welcome some of the largest student classes in the university’s history,” Widener University President James T. Harris III said. “This is good news for residents and businesses in communities like Chester and Harrisburg where Widener has its largest presence in Pennsylvania.”
Harris said the study does not include the economic impact of initiatives such as the Widener Small Business Development Center or University Crossings, a $50 million economic revitalization initiative of Widener and Crozer-Chester Medical Center which includes an apartment complex and the first hotel, bank and convenience store in Chester in years.
“These efforts go above and beyond what is traditionally measured in economic impact studies,” Harris said. “These efforts are an important part of the university’s civic engagement mission to contribute to the vitality and well-being of the communities we serve.”
p.s. In my opinion, Widener is just as vital to Chester as Harrah's and the soccer stadium. Chester is a college town and doesn't do enough to take advantage of that distinction by building around that fact and promoting it. Someone will figure it out one day.
p.s. In my opinion, Widener is just as vital to Chester as Harrah's and the soccer stadium. Chester is a college town and doesn't do enough to take advantage of that distinction by building around that fact and promoting it. Someone will figure it out one day.
Chester, Pa.—Widener University, with campuses in Chester, Exton and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania, contributed nearly $238 million to the state’s economy in 2009, according to an economic impact study conducted by the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania.
Overall, Pennsylvania’s 94 independent colleges and universities infused $16.1 billion into the Pennsylvania economy last year, including 8.7 billion in the greater Philadelphia region and $374 million in the Harrisburg region, the study found.
Widener University President James T. Harris III said that the economic impact report, issued every five years by AICUP, shows the vital role that Widener and other independent college and universities play in the Pennsylvania economy.
“Despite the sour economy, Widener continues to hire employees and welcome some of the largest student classes in the university’s history,” Harris said. “This is good news for residents and businesses in communities like Chester and Harrisburg where Widener has its largest presence in Pennsylvania.”
Harris said the study does not include the economic impact of initiatives such as the Widener Small Business Development Center or University Crossings, a $50 million economic revitalization initiative of Widener and Crozer-Chester Medical Center which includes an apartment complex and the first hotel, bank and convenience store in Chester in years.
“These efforts go above and beyond what is traditionally measured in economic impact studies,” Harris said. “These efforts are an important part of the university’s civic engagement mission to contribute to the vitality and well-being of the communities we serve.”
In 2009, Widener employed 1,070 state residents with an additional 1,020 jobs statewide attributable to Widener. These jobs contributed more than $2.3 million to state and local government budgets from payroll taxes. According to AICUP President Don Francis, job growth was one of the striking features in the economic impact study.
“Several years ago the Brookings Institution issued a report saying Pennsylvania policymakers should focus their attention on nurturing eds and meds since these industries were especially strong in the Commonwealth,” said Don Francis, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP), which conducted the study. “Today’s report confirms the wisdom of that recommendation, for jobs at colleges, hospitals, and doctors’ offices garnered three of the top four spots in payroll by a private sector industry in Pennsylvania.”
In 1999, Pennsylvania’s private colleges and universities ranked seventh in private sector payroll with 62,875 jobs and $1.886 billion in payroll. Ten years later, private higher education has moved to fourth with 79,213 jobs and $4.583 billion in payroll. Only management firms (corporate administrative offices), hospitals and physician offices exceed private universities in payroll.
“Several top 10 industries in 1999 are gone from the rankings, but private colleges and universities have moved up the list,” said Francis. “As our enrollment has grown to about 285,000 students—including one of the largest numbers of out-of-state students in the nation—we have been able to add good, family-sustaining jobs with benefits. We aren’t recession proof, but we have weathered these recessions better than most private industries.”
Summary of Widener University’s Economic Impact in Pennsylvania:
Student Spending Impact: $14,515,840
Institutional Expenditures Impact: $93,629,280
Visitor Spending Impact: $ 690,013
Construction Impact: $ 1,113,440
Employee Payroll Impact: $66,530,580
Indirect and Induced Economic Impact: $61,386,216
__________________________________________________
TOTAL Statewide Economic Impact: $237,865,369
The independent higher education sector is the largest of Pennsylvania’s four sectors of higher education. More than 284,000 students attend independent colleges and universities in the state, accounting for 41 percent of all enrollments. These private colleges and universities also account for 50 percent of all degrees awarded in the Commonwealth.
A brochure containing the major findings in the report and a short video about the job creation of private colleges and universities is on AICUP’s website (www.aicup.org).
It is good that Widener employs some people from the area. But how many people from the area attend the school? How many students from the area get scholarships to attend or even get a discount for living in the area so they can attend this super expensive school?
ReplyDeleteYes this school is local and convenient but some of us can't go to this school because it's so expensive. We don't all have parents who work at Widener so we can go for free.
Let's be real! Widener isn't catering to anyone in this area by giving out a few jobs. How many of us do they let in to go to school there? Their price tag is a deterrent.
Yes some of us already figured it out. Chester can promote Widener when they allow more of us in. With more students going to school, maybe it will help with that State of Emergency situation.
Chester has an image problem, agreed? Promoting CHESTER as a city with a great small university is attractive. It's not a matter of promoting Widener as much as we should be using Widener as a key component when we promote Chester.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Chester students at Widener. I took a visit over there last summer to meet the Chester High students attending Widener. I was surprised to meet about a dozen CHS alumns. Almost all of them said that Widener was not their first choice for college but Widener gave them the best financial package.
Widener 'invented' the ACT 101 program that for years has make it possible for students who don't quite meet admission standards to be accepted and attend colleges across Pennsylvania with financial and academic support resources. Chester native Dr. Alonzo Cavin is one of the authors of the bill. Shamefully, recent state funding has all but eliminated ACT 101. (ACT 101 got me in and out of Villanova).
A Widener recruiter told me that the main reasons CHS students don't attend Widener is preparedness. They do so badly in 9th and 10th grades that it's too late to catch up when it's time to apply.
Also, a lot of Chester adults who have gone back to earn a degree at Widener.
And yes, at $40k+ a year, Widener is expensive. Most decent colleges have priced the average working family out of paying for their children's education. Students are graduating with $100k+ in loans. I won't apologize for Widener's prices though. They have a beautiful campus, they are an excellent tenant of the city, they give a quality education, and they make Chester look great.
Now if only Chester would take more advantage of those facts when promoting the City.
Sounds like you are already sold on Widener. I don't think you get it. I know Widener is in Chester but Widener has built a city unto itself. Yes they do stuff out of obligation but it is a separate entity unto itself and not really part of Chester. Look Widener City is almost walled in.
ReplyDeleteI have been to Widener and have done well but I am priced out of continuing for a higher degree. Widener is too expensive. Since you are such a fan, where do they get money for all that expansion?
Okay. I admit. I don't get it.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't a posting on the cost of higher education and I agree Widener is among the most expensive in the area. For some strange reason it doesn't seem to be affecting enrollment. They must be doing something right.
By contrast, our beloved Cheyney University is an affordable state school and they can barely keep the doors open due to lack of enrollment. Is it really about price or quality of education?
I'm sold on the fact that Chester has a tremendous asset in Widener within our city borders.
If you can't connect on the impact a university can have on a community I suggest you take a trip on either side of north Broad street and see what Temple university has done. Or head out to west philly and see the impact Penn and Drexel has on University City. Do you think Swarthmore's cute little business district would be there if it wasn't for the college?
I don't care if Widener never enrolls a Chester resident. As long as they keep bringing in students from around the world to spend their money with Chester businesses, work for Chester companies and live in Chester houses when they graduate, I'm thrilled.
Unfortunately, we don't have any Chester businesses, jobs or homes worthy of a Widener grad.
Widener ain't the problem, Chester is.
Wow that's some tough words. Fortunately, I do care about residents being enrolled and getting a fair deal because some of us want to improve our lives by going to school. Some of us want to go to Widener because it is local and convenient. Again, it is just too expensive.
ReplyDeleteMaybe your posting wasn't intended to be on the cost of higher education but you wrote a posting glorifying Widener. You should expect opinions about Widener. Widener has its good points and bad points just like anything else. I am just saying it's not all glory.
By the way, most of those students from out of town are afraid to come into the city. So good luck getting any expenditures from them. I guess you are right maybe Chester needs to court them to spend money in town. They just got to get rid of the fear factor.
Not trying to be tough. Just enjoying a friendly back&forth on our favorite city.
ReplyDeleteHowever, until Chester has more to offer I recommend that most of those students stay behind the walls. There is a lot to be afraid over across the bridge.
It's okay, as you see, I can handle tough. I always enjoy a friendly back and forth with you on any topic.
ReplyDeleteIt always surprises me how few people, be they parents and guardians of prospective college students or prospective students themselves, realize that the Byzantine nature of our financial aid system in this country often makes it cheaper for students in need of aid to go to an "expensive" school like Widener than to go to a "cheaper" state school. Plus, a lot of pricey schools will, to some extent, use their high tuition costs to help subsidize surprisingly hefty grants and scholarships for deserving students who can't afford the gaudy price tag. It isn't always the case, but it happens a lot more often than you'd think.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that every school calculates aid packages differently based on the financial situation of the family of every student, so you really don't know where the good deals are until you actively look for them. A lot of people will simply see the sticker price of tuition at a school like Widener, automatically think it's unaffordable, and never realize that the cost for them would actually be much, much lower than they would ever imagine.
BS! I am a Widener graduate. The school is expensive!
ReplyDeleteAs a CHS graduate and a former Chester resident, I can tell you that strong will can get you anywhere you desire. In high school it was about survival, so obviously, attaining any form of higher education wasn't always a fore-thought. My point being, although I didn't graduate from Widener, I did attend free classes as an employee. They provided me a way to support my family and encouraged me to increase my cognitive abilities by earning a degree on thier dime. So, I'm a positive impact story.
ReplyDeleteGreat! If you can't get a full scholarship, that's the other best way to go to school for free, work for them. Too bad we are all not as lucky to get this opportunity and to take full advantage of it.
ReplyDeleteI graduated from Widener University about ten years ago. I do hope that the new president has changed things as much as he possibly can, because when I attended this waste of a university, I learned very little. Actually, I did learn how dysfunctional a school can be. The foreign language and education departments were a disaster. How well I remember the shooting at Columbine! It happened a year after I graduated. I was told by Dr. Margaret Linn, the head of the Special Education department, at the time that my project about bullying was a waste, and that bullying was only something a teacher deals with on a playground after an incident. Now bullying is an everyday household word.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, this all knowning "educational authority", Dr. Linn, didn't/doesn't believe in vision therapy which is one of the most effective ways to deal with visual problems of special needs children with vision issues. Just ask the Vision Therapy Department at Nova University in Miami about how effective this therapy is, and you will know how ignorant this department head is.
Then, of course, there was the foreign language department with Doctor Benedetti. At that time, he was the deparment head. He kept his pal teaching Spanish despite the huge class dropout rate. Out of the approximately 30 people in my class only five were left at the end of the term. The reason for the dropout rate was that his friend refused to teach. The worst part of the situation was that I got into an unbelievable amount of trouble for writing a letter of complaint about him. Let this be a warning to anyone who wants to lodge a complaint about anything or anybody at this school.
Finally, and probably the worst part of the experience I had at this poor excuse for a university were the rumors spread about me that almost cost me my degree. Speak of cost, I would like to know why people are paying one dime for this poor excuse for a university? I guess they like paying for the campus violence problems.