Graduates of the big three universities are staying in Michigan after graduation, spending money and adding billions of dollars to the state's economy, according to an
Anderson Economic Group report financed by
Michigan State University, the
University of Michigan and
Wayne State University.
In 2006, the 556,338 alums from these universities earned roughly $25 billion, or 13.4 percent of all wages and income in Michigan. They also created 46,398 full-time or full-time-equivalent jobs to the state's workforce.
"This basically makes you realize how big of a resource there is," says Michigan State University spokesman Joe Serwach. "We're really not always aware of the kind of growth that's going on in education, health care and other activities the research universities participate in."
The three schools are also cranking out intellectual property. When compared to other university research corridors in the country, the big three Michigan schools ranked fourth in average annual number of invention disclosures and patents.
"We wanted to benchmark ourselves to see where the growth is," says Serwach. "But, overall, it's a lot better than many people would realize."
Source: Joe Serwach, Michigan State University
Ivy Hughes is the development news editor for Capital Gains. She can be reached at
ivy@capitalgainsmedia.com.
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