Students end up spending money. A lot of money.
Local student spending exceeded $128 million for the 2019-2020 fiscal years, according to the 2021 Regional Impact Study, recently published by Colorado Mesa University (CMU).
When considering both the direct and indirect impact of students, employees, visitors, capital and the university itself, the estimated financial impact of the college on the regional economy is estimated at $538 million.
Almost 50% of the student body is from outside of western Colorado, compared to the 30% it was back in 2004.
This is just one of the statistics that shows that CMU is trending towards a more “traditional” university student body populace — that is, a melting pot of 18-22 year-olds that are achieving four-year degrees.
Over 80% of the student body is in that traditional age group, although the amount of full-time students has actually decreased from 2004, to encompass over 75% of students.
Among the most popular degrees Mesa awards are Business and Nursing, respectively. According to the study, since 2004, 2,270 bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration have been awarded, one of the most popular degrees at the university. Nursing clocks in at 1,519 total degrees awarded.
“CMU has a comprehensive career ladder approach to the nursing disciplines. CMU nursing credentials span the field starting at certificates and ending at the Doctorate of Nursing,” Vice President of Student Services Liz Howell said. “This wide range of opportunity allows those interested in a career in nursing to grow their credentials as they grow their careers and they can do it all within a single institution — CMU.”
Business degrees usually offer a broader experience and can be very flexible for students, which makes them so popular.
“In addition to nursing being an area of focus for CMU since the 1950s, the local medical community greatly values CMU nurses,” Howell said. “This means that job placement for graduates is a near certainty for nurses who want to stay in Western Colorado and serve the health care needs of the community.”
Teaching has actually been catching up to those degrees. Although the data is only available since 2009, over 1,000 teaching licensures have been given out by CMU.
Mesa is not known as a graduate school, and indeed only 39 Master’s and two Doctoral Degrees were given out for 2019.
One of the biggest points of CMU President Tim Foster’s tenure at the university has been controlling costs. For example, many colleges employ a hierarchy structure that includes deans, who oversee a “college” within the university. CMU has department heads instead of deans. The study estimates that over $500,000 have been saved since 2004 with the elimination of deans.
“One of the reasons for CMU’s success is that we operate efficiently rerouting overhead that would go to administrative functions and instead investing it for the benefit of students,” Howell said.
Foster’s tenure at CMU will end with many stats showing growth for almost every facet of the university. With his replacement looking to be hired by May, the direction that the university takes, and the trends it follows, will be uncertain.
