Swenson, David A.

April 2011

This is an evaluation of the statewide total economic value of state-funded higher education in Iowa.  The analysis is based on Fiscal Year 2010 final budgeted values for Iowa’s three Board of Regents universities and their teaching hospital, as well as the state’s 15 community colleges.  Final budget year data were obtained from the respective state universities’ web sites, from the Board of Regents, and from the Annual Condition of Iowa’s Community Colleges, 2010, report published by the Iowa Department of Education.  Additional information on employment was obtained from the Iowa Board of Regents using October 2009 employment levels as the official employment basis for FY ‘10.

The evaluation has three distinct components.  It first looks at all Board of Regent’s higher education spending, which includes all university institutes, centers, extension activities, and other services.  The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) are separately evaluated.  While it is a teaching hospital, and an important educational institution to the state of Iowa, it is most properly measured primarily as a public hospital for the purposes of this study, not as an educational facility.  Last, Iowa’s 15 community colleges are evaluated as a combined, albeit distributed group of higher education providers.

Keywords: economic impact, input output analysis, university

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