(gentle discovery music) - Main Street
in Pullman, Washington,
home to Washington State University,
shows a glimpse of college town life
leading into this semester.
In a typical fall,
the town population swells to about 35,000,
as more than 20,000 students report for class.
But this semester, the on-campus residence halls
and apartments will be virtually empty,
and the more than 30,000 seats
in Martin Stadium will be, too.
It's not just Pullman.
One study says, as of mid-August,
the coronavirus has pushed
nearly half of US colleges and universities
into some degree of remote learning.
That could mean fewer students
and visitors in college towns,
which could lead to lower sales for restaurants,
gas stations, and hotels.
That's sending shockwaves through the economies
of many college towns.
(mysterious classical music)
In Pullman, Washington,
WSU dominates the landscape
and the economy.
Anna Brown, an economist at EMSI,
creates models of spending patterns in college towns.
- So when we look at these analyses,
what we wanna look at
is the new economic activity created in a town
or in a region as a result of the universities.
So the operation spending impact is what we call it,
tends to be one of the largest impacts,
and we especially see that with WSU in Pullman.
- [Narrator] Brown's model says
that the university's day-to-day spending
brought $779 million into Pullman's economy
in a recent fiscal year.
That includes spending on staff payrolls,
equipment purchases, and food,
and then how that spending
ripples through the local economy.
The school's budget comes from a few revenue streams,
including enrollments and public funding.
Both are expected to be down,
in part due to the coronavirus.
Washington State is asking public universities
to plan for a 15% reduction in state funding
for the 2021 fiscal year.
WSU's financial officer said
that the budget cut for the school
is roughly equal to the cost
to run the Colleges of Business, Communication,
and Education combined.
Similar losses could happen elsewhere in the country.
In California, public colleges face
$602 million in reductions.
The State of Maryland
imposed 8% in cuts on higher education,
which may reduce university spending as well.
Enrollment could stall or even be down at some schools,
potentially hurting school budgets
and interrupting spending on college town communities.
In the Northeast, the enrollment dip
could cause some schools to shutter all together.
19 cities and towns in New England
have economies that rely on financially vulnerable colleges,
according to an analysis
from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
(gentle discovery music) The financial health
of a college town
depends on university spending.
But student activity plays an important role, too.
EMSI's analysis of Pullman
says student spending had an impact
of $48.5 million last year.
And that's equivalent to about 1,200 local jobs.
- And this includes the spending that students spend
for their room and board,
particularly for off-campus students,
as well as for their day-to-day expenses
as they're going to local restaurants,
as they're spending money on gas and so forth,
all of that is considered
within the student spending impact.
And really what we're focusing in on there
are students who are relocating to Pullman
or students who stay in Pullman because of WSU.
- [Narrator] If students stay away,
Pullman businesses will see fewer sales,
and the city government will see less tax revenues.
But the city administrator of Pullman
says that at least some students
are returning to their off-campus apartments.
Their activity could help offset the impact of budget cuts.
- In conversations with the university,
they're planning currently
for about 70% of the students to return.
And the students are such a huge impact on our community.
They're residents most of the time of the year as well,
so any time they're going out and spending,
that means a big impact.
- [Narrator] Other schools are working with local businesses
to welcome students back.
That could alleviate some of the economic pain.
Virginia Tech is welcoming students back to Blacksburg,
but off-campus students can't by on-campus meal plans.
That could divert more spending
towards local restaurants and grocers.
Back out west, Moscow, Idaho is welcoming 12,000 students
to attend the University of Idaho.
Their campus is 10 miles away from WSU.
That could draw more students into the region,
helping mitigate some of the economic damage.
But the loss of fall sports
could significantly reduce visitor spending.
(gentle music) In Pullman, visitors brought
$17.3 million into the local economy
in a recent fiscal year.
- During big football events,
there are a lot of Cougar fans
who live in the Seattle area,
and so they are coming from Seattle every weekend
or every home game weekend to watch the football game.
And so then they're bringing that money with them
that's creating the economic impact
by spending locally,
and it's money that would not have otherwise been spent
if not for the university home games
or other events such as graduation or Mom's Weekend
and those types of events.
- [Narrator] But this spring,
as the country sheltered in place,
events were called off.
Craig Depken, a professor of economics
at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte,
says that game day spending from visitors
will be missed most in the smallest college towns.
- I'd say in a town like Prairie View, Texas,
which has about 5,600 people, something like that,
roughly around 6,000 people in the town.
That's a small town, the economy's not gonna be very huge.
It'll have its fast food restaurants
and it'll have its gas stations.
Then you look at the football stadium
at Prairie View A&M.
If that stadium is full,
it has more people in the stadium
than live in the entire town.
- [Narrator] One of his studies found
that in smaller college towns,
games can promote economic growth.
But Prairie View A&M's athletics conference
postponed fall sports.
Some of the biggest conferences are following suit.
(gentle piano music) Washington State University's
PAC-12 conference postponed fall athletics,
as did the Big Ten.
With football season postponed,
college towns like Pullman
may see a reduction in spending,
as they could from their other two main sources.
Spending in college towns will be down this fall.
The expected slowdown in activity
could eliminate vital jobs.
As fall approaches, economists are watching.