Berks County's five institutions of higher education; Albright College, Alvernia College, Kutztown University, Penn State Berks and Reading Area Community College have announced the results of an economic impact study conducted over the past year.

Albright College's economic impact on Reading and Berks County is between $188,135,487 and $249,525,420

The study, which uses figures from 2004, is available for download at the top of this page.

Click here to download the entire economic impact report
(.pdf - requires Adobe Acrobat)
Click here to download the executive summary
(.pdf - requires Adobe Acrobat)

Higher Education Council of Berks County (HECBC)
2007 Economic Impact Study at a Glance

BACKGROUND

Economic Impact project started in Spring 2006

All colleges in Berks County participated

Key Economic Indicators that were used in study are pertinent to the five colleges:
• Institutional Core Expenditures
• Discretionary Student Spending
• Rental Payments
• Visitors to Campus
• Student Volunteer Time
• Study examines both direct and indirect impact:

Total economic impact = Direct economic impact + Indirect economic impact

RESULTS-INSTITUTIONAL PARAMETERS

• Over 21,000 students enroll in Berks County Colleges

• Campuses employ over 2,500 full-time employees

• Over 128,000 visitors to campus venues

ECONOMIC IMPACT

• Total of core expenditures of five campuses is almost $200 million

• Economic Impact estimates of student spending is between $28-$65 million

• Estimated student spending for rent and housing is $10-$16 million

• Visitors spend an estimated $102-$114 million

• Total of DIRECT spending by campus and students estimated between $328-$378 million

With direct PLUS indirect economic impact estimates, the gain to Berks County is between
$923 million and $1.2 billion!!!!!

OTHER BENEFITS NOT INCLUDED IN ECONOMIC IMPACT

• Availability of Library Sources

• Tax revenues from visitors

• Entrepreneurial enterprises of campuses/faculty services
and consulting to the community