Shingwauk Hall at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. (BRIAN KELLY/THE SAULT STAR/POSTMEDIA NETWORK)
Algoma University’s $80-million impact on Sault Ste. Marie’s economy supports 1,000-plus jobs and is expected to grow as the post-secondary institution welcomes more students and its graduates contribute knowledge learned to their employers.
An economic impact study done by Emsi, a labour market analytics firm based in Idaho, is based on 2017-2018 data when Algoma’s enrolment stood at 1,362. Total student numbers at sites in the Sault, Brampton and Timmins are 2,032 full-time equivalents in January as the university works towards its goal of 3,000 FTE by 2024.
Alumni impact, at $56.8 million or 71 per cent, is the greatest contributor to Algoma’s impact to the city, Emsi found. Educated residents earn more money. Their contributions make their employers more efficient, said economist Susan Hackett.
“This is an impact that will grow with Algoma,” she said during her presentation to Algoma’s board of governors last Thursday.
The impact of operations spending, at $20.9 million, was the second largest contributor to Algoma’s impact on the Sault’s economy.
Payroll for 2017-2018, not including research employees, totaled $16.7 million. The university spent $12.5 million on day-to-day expenses during the year.
Student spending contributed $1.6 million in added income to the economy.
Research spending, at $563,400, and visitor spending, $344,300, rounded out Algoma’s impact.
Algoma contributes 2.7 per cent of the city’s total gross regional product. The university supports more than 1,100 jobs.
“That’s a significant impact to be making,” said Hackett. “There’s entire industries that don’t make an economic impact as large as that. It’s showing that people are affected by Algoma whether they directly attend it, or work there, or not. You really have a wide-reaching economic impact locally. That impact spans across a lot of different industry sectors.”
Esmi’s “very rigorous” methodology results in conservative findings, she told governors.
“Economic impact studies tend to have a bad reputation because they can really easily overinflate numbers,” said Hackett. “It’s very hard to take them seriously whey they do that. We try to be as conservative as possible.”
No references to the impact of Indigenous students on Algoma disappointed governor Jessica Belisle.
“I think that was a lost opportunity,” she said.
Emsi wanted to include data related to First Nation students, but none was available, said Hackett.
The study is a first for the university, director of strategic advancement Colin Wilson told governors.
“We were looking at quantifying the performance of the institution,” he said. “There weren’t a lot of metrics that we could use to demonstrate to the community what we were providing.”
Emsi adapted its economic impact model for American colleges for Canadian post-secondary institutions in 2000. Emsi has done studies for more than half of the colleges and universities in Canada.
“It’s really important for municipal leaders, provincial leaders and federal leaders to see what the return is for the investment,” said Wilson. “When you look at these numbers you really see what Algoma brings to the community and it truly is impressive.”
The university credits another economic impact study done by Emsi for helping the post-secondary institution get $7.3 million in support from the City of Brampton last June. The cash, over three years, will help Algoma boost its facilities and programming at its campus in the southern Ontario city of 600,000. The university is dedicating $27 million to the project.
“We could show the economic impact over time,” president Asima Vezina told governors. “It’s a big reason why we were successful in that proposal.”
Wilson will use the Emsi data in “a number of (funding) proposals” seeking funding “so people really understand what the impact is if we get that proposal through,” said Vezina.
She expects the university will update the economic impact study in three to four years.
“This is stuff that we should keep current,” said Vezina.
The study was estimated to cost $50,000 to $55,000 when brought forward to the board of governors last March.
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