State university system pumps dollars into communities: from Ketchikan to Fairbanks, the impact of the university to its host towns and cities is reported as considerable, both in cultural impact and finances.

• Author: Colby, Nicole A. Bonham

The business of higher education is big business for many Alaska communities, with the local University of Alaska campus providing a relatively stable influx of cash to the local economy. It's a stability that often-times runs a complementary counter to the boom-style economies of typical Alaska industries like fisheries, timber and construction.

From Ketchikan to Fairbanks, the impact of the university to its host towns and cities is reported as considerable, both in cultural impact and finances. In fact, the university's contribution is a regular topic of scrutiny within the state, prompting comprehensive analysis like that summarized in the McDowell Group Inc.'s "The Economic Impact of the University of Alaska, 2003 Update" and the 2004 report "The Economics of the University of Alaska and the U-Med District" by

Scott Goldsmith of the UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research. Some of the best testimonials of campus contribution come from the mouths of local residents and staff

Off-Campus Housing

The real estate market--particularly rental housing--is one gauge of how a local university campus impacts the surrounding community.

In Sitka, where all housing is off-campus and fall enrollment totaled some 700, students either live at home or rent apartments or houses within the community. This impact to the local housing and rental market provides an even, school-year balance to the more kinetic fishing and tourist seasons. In addition to the students and those adjunct faculty who do not live in Sitka, the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka campus employs 52 local staff and faculty, with an annual approximate payroll of $4.2 million infused to the local economy. "Education, as a whole, is the third-largest employer in Sitka, with about 300 jobs in this field," says Bonnie Elsensohn, media specialist at the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus. "Generally, these jobs offer higher salaries than those in health and seafood processing, the next largest employers."

Across the state in Fairbanks, some 7,113 students were enrolled at University of Alaska Fairbanks during the fall 2004 period. Of those, only an approximate 19 percent lived on campus, which left some 5,800 students finding housing off-campus that year, according to Ian Olson, assistant director of UAF planning, analysis and institutional research. Not including benefits, Olson reports that salaries "roughly totaled $115 million in the Fairbanks area in fiscal year 2005...