Ashland Community and Technical College adds $176.1 million in income to the Tri-State (KY,OH,WV) area, reveals new data

Ashland Community and Technical College has received new data that highlights the profound influence that ACTC has on the college’s service area. The comprehensive analysis, conducted by independent labor market analytics firm Lightcast and commissioned by ACTC, highlights the substantial contributions of Ashland’s local community college, which generates an impressive $176.1 million annual economic impact.

The focus of the report, spanning Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023 highlights that this impact provided a value approximately equal to 1.04% of the region’s total gross regional product, emphasizing the significant impact ACTC has on the business community and how it continues to generate a return on investment to its major stakeholder groups: students, taxpayers, and society.

Over the years, students have studied at ACTC and entered or re-entered the workforce with newly acquired knowledge and skills. Today, thousands of these former students are employed in the ACTC service area. ACTC’s impact supported 2,373 jobs across 2022-2023, resulting in students and alumni supporting one out of every 64 jobs in the ACTC service area.  In FY 2022-2023, ACTC alumni generated $158.6 million in added income for the regional economy, which is equivalent to supporting 2,029 jobs. 

“The Lightcast economic impact study validates the mission of the college,” said ACTC President and CEO, Dr. Larry Ferguson. “We educate, serve, and support success for the communities we serve from multiple contexts, including workforce, economic, and community development. The results clearly indicate that public and private investment into our mission pays great dividends for all the citizens and their families we impact.”

In return for their investment, students will receive a cumulative present value of $79.8 million in increased earnings over their working lives. This translates to a return of $6.90 in higher future earnings for every dollar students invest in their education. Students’ average annual rate of return is 26.4%. 

Other key points from the report include:

• ACTC employed 301 full time and part time faculty and staff in FY 2022-23. 
• The net impact of the college’s operations spending added $14.5 million in income to the regional economy in FY 2022-2023
• Total taxpayer benefits amount to $23.1 million, the present value sum of the added tax revenue and public sector savings. For every dollar of public money invested in ACTC, taxpayers will receive $1.80 in return, over the course of the course of the students’ working lives. The average annual rate of return for taxpayers is 3.4%. 
• In FY 2022-23, Kentucky invested $31.1 million to support ACTC. In turn, the Kentucky economy will grow by $227.8 million, over the course of the students’ working lives. Society will also benefit from $6.9 million of public and private sector savings.
• For every dollar invested in ACTC in FY 2022-23, people in Kentucky will receive $7.50 in return, for as long as ACTC’s FY 2022-23 students remain active in the state workforce.
• The average ACTC associate degree graduate from FY 2022-23 will see annual earnings that are $9,300 higher than a person with a high school diploma or equivalent working in Kentucky.
  
  

The results of this study demonstrate that ACTC creates value from multiple perspectives: the student perspective, the taxpayer perspective, and the social perspective.