photo by: Mike Yoder

A study recently commissioned by Haskell Indian Nations University aims to assign a dollar figure to the school’s contribution to Lawrence and the area.

Haskell’s annual economic impact amounts to a total of $23.1 million in gross regional product, according to an analysis of the university’s economic impact and return on investment of education, completed in December and shared this month at Haskell’s spring board of regents meeting.

“Haskell creates value from multiple perspectives,” authors of the study concluded. “The university serves a range of industries in Douglas County, supports local businesses, and benefits society nationwide from an expanded economy and improved quality of life.”

Haskell is a federal university, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education, and must adhere to federal protocols for many of its operations.

Haskell officials and regents in the past year have stated goals including growing partnerships with the local community, finding nonfederal revenue streams such as private donors and doing more business with local contractors.

photo by: Mike Yoder

“All of our major services have to be contracted through a pretty rigorous and time-consuming process,” Haskell President Venida Chenault said. “As a result of that, a lot of our current contracts aren’t being bid out to the local Lawrence community, which we would like to change, and the state, which we would like to change.”

Chenault said it’s hoped that the new economic analysis will help show that Haskell makes a significant financial impact on Lawrence and Douglas County and that “the investment in Haskell is a wise investment.”

Results of the analysis are based on student and financial data for fiscal year 2013-14, according to the study. It was completed by Economic Modeling Specialists International, an economic data company affiliated with CareerBuilder.

The study analyzed the economic impact of operations spending, student spending and alumni.

Key findings, from the cited year, that led to the calculation of $23.1 million in gross regional product contribution:

• Haskell employed 149 full- and part-time faculty and staff, 83 percent of whom lived in Douglas County. The university’s total payroll was $12.3 million, much of which was spent in the county on living expenses.

• The university spent $12.3 million to cover its expenses for facilities, professional services and supplies.

• About 88 percent of Haskell students came from outside the county. While attending the university, relocated students spend $7.2 million on groceries, rent, transportation and other living expenses.

• Thousands of Haskell alumni are employed in Douglas County, contributing to increased output of the businesses employing them and spending money at other businesses.

The study also offered an analysis of return on investment to students, taxpayers and society.

In return for their investment to attend Haskell, students — 931 for-credit students were served in the cited year — will receive a stream of higher future wages that will continue to grow, leading to an average rate of return for students of 19.1 percent, according to the study.

Benefits to taxpayers consist primarily of taxes the government will collect from added income created by Haskell students, according to the study.

Society also benefits financially from Haskell, through alumni applying skills they learned there to earn more money, according to the study. Society also saves on health, crime and unemployment costs because education is correlated with improved lifestyles.

Britt Crum-Cano, economic development director for the city of Lawrence, said the city does depend financially on its institutions of higher education, such as Kansas University and Haskell.

“If you look at how many people they employ and the percentage of the population that they make up, those have to have some impacts,” she said.

“They bring in a lot of students to add to our population, so it’s just common sense those students are going to be spending and bringing dollars into the community.”