UNE is “engine of growth” generating statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion last year according to latest report

UNE Portland Campus

The University of New England has announced findings from its economic impact report for academic year 2016, which demonstrates that the university’s total financial impact for the year across the state of Maine totaled more than $1 billion. The report was created by Planning Decisions, Inc., an independent Portland-based research and planning firm.

The analysis took into account many factors contributing to UNE’s overall impact on Maine’s economy. The study of its operational impact, for example, found that the university employed 1,545 people, making it the twentieth largest in the state. UNE paid more than $83 million in salary and benefits to employees over the past year.

Moreover, the study found that UNE’s rapid physical growth in recent years, with the addition of acreage, buildings and structural upgrades, has translated to the growth of Maine’s economy by generating a significant source of income for Maine architects, engineers, contractors, tradespeople and vendors. This capital facilities impact, according to the report, has averaged nearly $21 million per year over the past five years, with capital expenditures in 2015-16 totaling $49 million.

UNE further enhanced the Maine economy with $42 million generated over the past year in student spending at Maine businesses and an additional $22 million in visitor spending.

The report also takes into account what is known as indirect impact, that is, the ripple effect from direct UNE-generated spending, as well as the impact of non-financial transactions that have substantial economic value, such as the 1.4 million hours of clinical service that UNE’s professional programs provided to the community—services worth an estimated $44 million.

However, according to the study, “UNE’s greatest economic impact results not from the volume of its operational or investment spending, nor from the volume of the spending made by its students and visitors, nor from the indirect impacts of all this spending as it flows from business to business across Maine, nor from the value of its non-commercial clinics and volunteer efforts.” The greatest of the university’s economic impacts, it states, “lies in the value of the human capital it creates each year.”

The report explains that UNE’s human capital comes from two sources: the flow of new employees into Maine’s work force each year as new employees are hired by the university and the increased earning power of graduates who take jobs in Maine. Both sources combine to bring UNE’s total human capital impact on Maine in 2016 to $497 million.

According to Charles Lawton, Ph.D., chief economist at Planning Decisions, who prepared UNE’s 2016 economic impact analysis as well as its previous analysis in 2007, the contributions made by the university to the economic vitality of the state have increased exponentially. “Since UNE’s first impact statement was prepared in 2007,” he stated in his report, “it has proven itself to be a true engine of growth for Biddeford, for the Greater Portland region and for Maine as a whole.”

A snapshot of UNE’s 2016 economic impact report reveals:

  • UNE serves more than 11,700 students.  (Enrollment numbers updated after this report was completed, show 12,245 in student headcount.)
  • Approximately 4,458 attend UNE’s Biddeford or Portland Campus programs, with 2,501 coming to UNE from outside of Maine.
  • Approximately 7,244 (within and outside of Maine) pursue distance education.
  • UNE students spend more than $42 million per year in Maine.
  • UNE employs approximately 1,545 people, pays more than $83 million in salary and benefits and spends $77 million in non-personnel operating expenses. It is the twentieth largest employer in the state.
  • In 2015-16, UNE created 89 new positions. Over a period during which Maine’s and even Greater Portland’s total employment has been basically stagnant, UNE’s total employment has grown by more than 62 percent. Over the same period, total wages in Maine rose by 29 percent. In Greater Portland, they rose 32 percent, and at UNE they jumped 163 percent.
  • UNE employees reside in 103 Maine communities.
  • UNE-generated spending creates more than $22 million in state and local tax revenue.
  • UNE’s 582-acre Biddeford Campus and 41-acre Portland Campus include 60 buildings and are valued at more than $285 million. Over the past five years, UNE’s capital investment has averaged nearly $21 million per year, and in 2015-16, its capital expenditures totaled $49 million.
  • Clinical services provided by more than 2,300 graduate and professional students as part of their educational programs are valued at nearly $44 million.
  • UNE attracts more than 24,000 out-of-state visitors per year, who spend more than $22 million in Maine.
  • UNE’s cumulative economic impact for academic year 2016 exceeds $1 billion, with UNE-generated economic activities and their indirect impacts generating sales of nearly $470 million for businesses across the state, supporting the equivalent of 3,800 jobs earning total compensation of more than $172 million.

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About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.