55 Chapter 4: Conclusion WHILE SUNY WCC’S VALUE to Westchester County is larger than simply its economic impact, understanding the dollars and cents value is an important asset to understanding the college’s value as a whole. In order to fully assess SUNY WCC’s value to the county economy, this report has evaluated the college from the perspectives of economic impact analysis and investment analysis. From an economic impact perspective, we calculated that SUNY WCC generates a total economic impact of $585.6million in total added income for the county economy. This represents the sum of several different impacts, including the college’s: Operations spending impact ($109.6 million); Student spending impact ($10 million); and Alumni impact ($466.1 million). The total impact of $585.6 million is equivalent to approximately 0.6% of the total GRP of Westchester County and is equivalent to supporting 5,837 jobs. Since SUNY WCC’s activity represents an investment by various parties, including students, taxpayers, and society as a whole, we also considered the college as an investment to see the value it provides to these investors. For each dollar invested by students, taxpayers, and society, SUNY WCC offers a benefit of $4.10, $1.40, and $6.60, respectively. These results indicate that SUNYWCC is an attractive investment to students with rates of return that exceed alternative investment opportunities. At the same time, the presence of the college expands the state economy and creates a wide range of positive social benefits that accrue to taxpayers and society in general within New York. Modeling the impact of the college is subject to many factors, the variability of which we considered in our sensitivity analysis (Appendix 1). With this variability accounted for, we present the findings of this study as a robust picture of the economic value of SUNY WCC.
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