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SSU shows its impact on the Coastal Empire
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Savannah State University continues to be a major economic engine in the state, pumping $136 million into the Savannah metropolitan economy during fiscal year 2009, according to a study conducted by the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. 
 
The report, released Thursday, updates similar studies conducted on behalf of the Intellectual Capital Partnership Program, an initiative of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents’ Office of Economic Development. The $136 million represents a $9 million increase since the FY08 report.  
 
In addition to the $136 million in total economic impact generated by Savannah State University during FY09, the study determined that Savannah State is responsible for 1,254 full- and part-time jobs. From among these positions, 427, or 34 percent, are on-campus jobs while 827, or 66 percent, are private- or public-sector jobs. In other words, for each job created on the Savannah State campus there are approximately 1.6 off-campus jobs that exist because of the spending related to SSU’s presence.
 
The report quantifies the economic benefits that Savannah State University conveys to Chatham, Effingham, Bryan, Liberty and Bulloch counties. It shows that $94 million of the $136 million in total economic impact was due to initial spending by Savannah State for salaries and fringe benefits, operating supplies and expenses, and other budgeted expenditures, as well as spending by students who attended the institution in FY 2009. Re-spending — the multiplier effect of those dollars as they are spent again in the region — accounted for another $42 million. 
 
Savannah State’s spending for capital projects, primarily the Social Sciences Building that was completed in 2009, added an additional $2.9 million
in output impact. Researchers found that, on average, for every dollar of initial spending in the community by Savannah State University, an additional 51 cents was generated for the local economy. 
 
 “Savannah State is an educational and economic asset to the area,” said Earl G. Yarbrough Sr., Ph.D., president of SSU. “The report emphasizes the growth, vitality and financial stability that Savannah State brings to the region during this period of economic recovery.”