CONTRIBUTED BY SUSCC
EAST ALABAMA — According to a recent economic impact study conducted by Lightcast, a global leader in labor market analytics, Southern Union State Community College generated $162.6 million in added income to its service area economy in Fiscal Year 2023-24.
“Southern Union influences both the lives of its students and the regional economy,” the report states. The activities of SUSCC and its students supports 2,819 jobs or one out of every 55 jobs in the SUSCC service area (Chambers, Clay, Lee, Randolph, Tallapoosa and Macon counties).
Individually, students can expect a more than reasonable return on their investment in their SUSCC education. For every dollar a student invests in their education with SUSCC, they can expect to gain $5.20 in lifetime earnings. The average associate degree graduate from Southern Union will see an increase in earnings of $8,000 each year compared to someone with a high school diploma working in Alabama.
Additionally, SUSCC adds economic value to its service area as an employer of regional residents and a large-scale buyer of goods and services. In FY 2023-24, the college employed 559 full-time and part-time faculty and staff, 95 precent of whom lived in the SUSCC Service Area. SUSCC’s operations spending added $33.5 million to the region during the analysis year. And, for every dollar of taxpayer money invested to support education students attending SUSCC, taxpayers will receive a cumulative value of $2.00 over the course of the student’s working lives. In other words, taxpayers receive an annual rate of return of 4.8%.
“Our students and graduates are working, earning and reinvesting in our local communities,” said SUSCC President Todd Shackett. “Businesses in our area rely on our graduates to help keep their operations strong. This report just underscores SUSCC’s important role in training our workforce.”
SUSCC plays an important role in the overall statewide impact made by the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) which includes 24 community colleges. According to the Lightcast report, students and alumni of the ACCS contributed $8.1 billion to the state’s economy, an amount equal to about 3% of Alabama’s total gross state product. Alabama’s community colleges support 114,043 jobs in Alabama, which is equivalent to one in every 26 jobs.
Lightcast analyzed data using FY 2023-24 academic and financial reports from Alabama’s community and technical colleges, the Alabama Technology Network, as well as industry and employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
With campuses in Wadley, Opelika and Valley, Southern Union State Community College was founded in 1922 and is the second-oldest two-year college in Alabama. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate degrees. For more information, visit www.suscc.edu.
