MCC Program Based Economic Impact Analysis: Feb 2018

TABLE A2.2: MCC’s Accounting program’s alumni impact, FY 2015-16

Non-labor income (thousands)

Labor income (thousands)

Total income (thousands)

Sales (thousands)

Jobs

Initial effect

$8,752

$6,537

$15,289

$31,029

245

Multiplier effect  Direct effect  Indirect effect  Induced effect

$1,281

$947 $173

$2,227

$4,727

35

$238

$411

$872

7

$2,496 $4,015 $12,767

$2,052 $3,172 $9,709

$4,548 $7,187 $22,476

$8,395

63

Total multiplier effect

$13,994 $45,022

105 350

Total impact (initial + multiplier)

Source: Emsi impact model.

non-labor income, for an overall total of $7.2 million in multiplier effects. The grand total of the alumni impact thus comes to $22.5 million in total added income, the sum of all initial and multiplier labor and non-labor income effects. This is equivalent to 350 jobs. INVESTMENT ANALYSIS Investment analysis is the process of evaluating total costs and measuring these against total benefits to determine whether or not a proposed venture will be profitable. If benefits outweigh costs, then the invest- ment is worthwhile. If costs outweigh benefits, then the investment will lose money and is thus considered infeasible. To enroll in postsecondary education, Accounting pro- gram’s students pay money for tuition and forego mon- ies that otherwise they would have earned had they chosen to work instead of learn. From the perspective of students, education is the same as an investment; i.e., they incur a cost, or put up a certain amount of money, with the expectation of receiving benefits in return. The total costs consist of the monies that students pay in the form of tuition and fees and the opportunity costs of foregone time and money. The benefits are the higher earnings that students receive as a result of their education. Calculating student costs of the Accounting program Accounting program student costs consist of two main items: direct outlays and opportunity costs and opportu-

nity costs. Direct outlays include tuition and fees, equal to $230.9 thousand from Table A2.3. 8 Direct outlays also include the cost of books and supplies. On average, full- time students spent $1,200 each on books and supplies during the reporting year. 9 Multiplying this figure times the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) produced by the program in FY 2015-16 10 generates a total cost of $58.1 thousand for books and supplies. In addition to the cost of tuition, Accounting program students also experience an opportunity cost of attend- ing College. Opportunity cost is the most difficult com- ponent of student costs to estimate. It measures the value of time and earnings foregone by students who attend the program’s classes rather than work. To calculate it, we need to know the difference between the students’ full earning potential of the Accounting program’s students and what they actually earn while attending the College. We derive the students’ full earning potential by weight- ing the average annual earnings levels, according to the education level breakdown of the student population when they first enrolled. 11 However, the earnings levels 8 The total tuition and fees for students of the Accounting program was calculated using the product of in-state student cost per credit and the total number of credits completed by the program’s students in FY 2015-16. 9 Based on the data supplied by MCC. 10 A single FTE is equal to 30 CHEs, so there were 48 FTEs pro- duced by students in FY 2015-16, equal to 1,452 CHEs divided by 30. 11 This is based on the number of Accounting program’s students who reported their entry level of education to MCC. Emsi pro- vided estimates in the event that the data was not available from the college.

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MONROE COMMUNITY COLLEGE. | FEBRUARY 2018