Springfield benefits from 35,000 college students

Springfield’s college student population numbers more than 35,000, and the return of many of those students to town each fall has a tremendous impact on the local economy.

The universities in Springfield – Missouri State, Drury and Evangel universities, along with Ozarks Technical Community College, Central and Baptist Bible colleges – are crucial to growing the economy, according to MSU economics professor Tom Wyrick, because they bring in new money from other areas.

“If you built a wall around Springfield and nobody came in or went out, there wouldn’t be much opportunity for the economy to grow,” he said. “What makes an economy grow is when you start at a certain size and bring in money from the outside to buy stuff.”

And the purchases, he said, go beyond tuition.

“They buy educational services, and that’s a lot,” Wyrick said. “But then they rent an apartment, and they buy food, and they buy clothing, and they buy gasoline.”

About half of apartment developer Sam E. Coryell Sr.’s tenants are college students. Coryell owns and manages 2,000 units. Many of his leases end in the summer, freeing up space for new students.

“In a college community like ours, you have to do it – you have close to 40,000 students here at any one time,” Coryell said. “Even if they live in Springfield, many are ready to move out on their own, and an apartment is really the only direction they can go.”

Wyrick said a study done nearly a decade ago showed MSU’s annual economic impact on the local economy to be $365 million, or about $1 million a day; Wyrick says the number now is surely much higher. An August 2006 study conducted for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, shows the regional impact of higher education at nearly $900 million a year.

A place to work

While the most immediately noticeable effect of students may be in the apartment and rental housing industry, the impact also can be felt in the employment realm, particularly for part-time positions.

Paula Adams, president of Springfield-based Penmac Personnel Services, said there is a large supply of students who have put in applications for part-time or temporary work in recent weeks.

“And there are jobs coming in, too,” Adams said. “(Companies) are looking at some of their holes and how students can fill those.”

The two most popular job types for students, she said, are clerical/office work and food service. Penmac is working to help several companies, including Great Southern Bank and Dagwood’s Sandwich Shoppes, match part-time positions with college students.

Matt Snyder, director of human resources for Great Southern, said the bank has a good informal partnership with the local universities to find workers for the bank’s retail locations.

“Because of the bank being retail-based, some branches are open seven days a week and have evening hours,” he said. “We find that the universities provide us a ready source of people looking for flexible hours like that.”

Tom Dapp, market partner for Dagwood’s, said that his company has listed positions with both Penmac and MSU’s online job posting service at www.missouristate.edu/studentemp.

“We know that this will be a temporary position for a lot of them,” Dapp said, adding that because he is in charge of developing 65 restaurants in the region, a part-time position could lead to more permanent work, especially for hospitality students. “The opportunity to learn the restaurant business from the ground level could be tremendous for them.”

If MSU professor Wyrick is correct, there will be a lot of candidates to fill part-time jobs. He estimates that about two-thirds of MSU’s out-of-town students, or nearly half of the total student population, will hold jobs.

The August 2006 study cited by Wyrick – conducted by St. Louis firm Development Strategies Inc. – estimates that 25 percent of all higher ed students in Springfield come from outside the metropolitan area.

“It’s a significant influx of workers in numerous sectors,” Wyrick said. “If those students refused to work or left, there would be higher wages, which would be bad for business, leading to higher prices, and not as many people would shop here or eat here.”

A void in the summer?

But what happens to the local economy in May and June, when many of those students leave for the summer?

Developer Coryell said that many of his apartments turn over in May and June, but, “right now, for every (tenant) that leaves you’ve got one coming in.”

He added that many students starting class in the fall will come into town early, looking to acclimate themselves to the area.

Wyrick also points out that a significant number of college students stay in town during the summer; MSU’s summer 2007 enrollment was 7,122, about 37 percent of the total from the previous fall.

“There is some exodus, but there are a significant number that don’t leave,” he said. “They stay because they have a place (to live) and the cost of living is pretty low. There’s never a time when there are no students in town.”

Coryell is expanding his apartment holdings with an aggressive construction schedule, and he plans to have 3,000 units under management by the beginning of the 2008 school year.

Coryell said he plans his construction schedule for new apartments around the college crowd as well; he tries to have any new apartment building ready for tenants by Aug. 15 to allow incoming students time to move in before classes begin.

Fall full-time enrollment

Missouri State University – Springfield: 17,425

Drury University: 5,070

Evangel University: 2,000 (estimate)

Ozarks Technical Community College: 10,347[[In-content Ad]]