4 Executive summary THIS REPORT ASSESSES the impact of four of SUNY Westchester Community College’s (SUNYWCC) programs on theWestchester County economy, the return on investment to the programs’ students, and the benefits generated for New York taxpayers. Some of the key findings of this analysis are below. Business In fiscal year (FY) 2021-22, SUNY WCC enrolled 1,586 students in its Business program, 213 of whom graduated in the analysis year and 126 were workforce students. Students who complete this program are expected to enter occupations such as accountants and auditors; market research analysts and marketing specialists; secretaries and administrative assistants; business operations specialists; and real estate sales agents. In Westchester County, the total number of jobs in these types of occupations1 in 2022 was 94,227, and over the next 10 years, the average number of jobs is expected to grow 6.7%. At the associate degree level and below there were 5,674 annual job openings. In 2022, regional employers published 5,516 unique job postings at the associate and below degree level for the considered occupations in Westchester County.2 Comparing annual job openings to the 378 regional Business program completers,3 there is a gap of 5,296 job openings, meaning that there is not enough supply of trained workers in this area to meet the need of regional employers.4 SUNY WCC’s Business program alumni generated an estimated $48 million in added income to the Westchester County economy in FY 2021-22. The undiscounted lifetime earnings increase per student is $433.8 thousand. For every dollar current students invest in their education in SUNY WCC’s Business program, they will receive on average $3.5 back over the course of their working lives. The corresponding internal rate of return for these students is 14.7%. Finally, students aren’t the only ones who receive benefits from completing the Business program at SUNY WCC. New York taxpayers will also receive benefits from SUNY WCC’s Business program students in the form of added 1 See Appendix 1 for a complete list of mapped occupations. 2 The number of job postings lower than the number of job openings may indicate the fact that employers hire multiple workers using one job posting or that the education level is not specified in a job advertisement. The number of job postings higher than the number of job openings may reflect intense job distribution and cross-posting of job advertisements across multiple job boards in different cities, indicating a lack of labor supply. 3 Program completions at the associate and below degree level from other institutions in the region are included along with SUNY WCC program completions when calculating the total number of regional program completers. 4 Note that in the total headcount of regional program completers, non-credit or non-degree completions of other regional institutions are not included due to data limitations. Thus, the estimated gap of job openings may be overstated if other educational institutions offer similar workforce or professional development courses in Westchester County. Program completions from other institutions in the county are reflective of FY 2020-21 and were reported to the Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) survey for the same Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes that represent SUNY WCC’s program in question. WES TCHES T ER COUNTY, NEW YORK
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