University of New England a leading contributor to Maine's economy - UNE’s total economic impact tops $560 million

A recent independent economic impact study conducted on behalf of University of New England (UNE) by Planning Decisions, Inc. (PDI), details UNE’s substantial economic benefit to the state of Maine in 2010. The report was prepared by PDI Chief Economist Chuck Lawton.

Highlights of the study include:

• UNE currently serves nearly 4,500 students:
  
  •   1,253 live on UNE‚Äôs Biddeford or Portland Campus
  •   2,095 commute from surrounding communities
  •   1,145 (within and outside of Maine) pursue distance education
  •   UNE students spend $32 million per year in Maine.
• UNE employs nearly 1,000 people and has a total operational budget of $127 million spent on faculty, staff, educational and research operations.
• UNE students volunteer more than 10,000 hours of community service each year to more than 150 community agencies, organizations and schools. The commercial equivalent value of these   services exceeds $1 million each year.
• UNE‚Äôs 540-acre Biddeford Campus and 41-acre Portland Campus include 43 buildings and are together valued at more than $100 million. The University spends between $8 and $15 million   each year maintaining and upgrading its facilities.
• UNE attracts 22,000 out-of-state visitors who spend over $8 million each year in Maine.
• UNE‚Äôs operational, capital, student and visitor spending together add up to $180 million in direct sales for Maine businesses and workers.
• These sales coming from UNE and its non-Maine students filter through the Maine economy, providing over $68 million in indirect sales to suppliers to UNE and UNE-related businesses and   nearly $93 million in induced sales to Maine businesses selling to Maine households working at UNE and UNE-related businesses.  Together these indirect and induced sales amount to a total   ‚Äútrickle-down‚Äù effect of $161 million each year. 
• Adding the direct and ‚Äútrickle-down‚Äù effects, UNE‚Äôs total sales impact on Maine‚Äôs economy amounts to $341 million in annual sales for Maine businesses, supporting 2,600 jobs that provide over   $127 million in income to Maine households.
• The increased earnings available to graduates over their lives as a result of the education they received at UNE adds another $216 million to the University‚Äôs economic impact, bringing its total   impact to nearly $560 each year.
• The report does not quantify UNE‚Äôs substantial contributions to social services and the humanities in the state. For example:
• The Maine Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Network, which operates from UNE‚Äôs College of Osteopathic Medicine, delivers critical health care education and resources to rural and   underserved communities in nine Maine counties. 
• UNE‚Äôs Portland Campus is home to both the Art Gallery featuring works of internationally acclaimed artists such as photographer Abelardo Morell, as well as the acclaimed Maine Women Writers  Collection, a permanently endowed library special collection of literary, cultural, and social history sources by and about Maine women authors.
• UNE‚Äôs Biddeford Campus is home to the George and Barbara Bush Center and Legacy Collection, which houses material anchoring the Bush legacy in Maine, including memorabilia on loan from   the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A & M University.