CSU's increasing economic impact in the Chattahoochee Valley continues a multi-year trend, according to a new study by the University System of Georgia. The study analyzed regional fiscal year 2023 spending and jobs created by the state’s 26 public colleges and universities system. CSU's $297.5 million total FY23 economic impact—up from $290.2 million in Fiscal Year 2022—includes $237.2 million in initial spending by CSU students and by the university on personnel and operating expenses. The additional $60.3 million is the multiplier impact of those funds on the local community. CSU President Stuart Rayfield lauded the report’s timing, which followed the university's launch last week of its new five-year Better Together: 2030 strategic plan. “Since opening our doors to our first students in 1958, Columbus State University has been intertwined with this region’s success and vitality. Both our new strategic plan and this study underscore the importance of that relationship,” Rayfield said. “I love the numerical results of our impact, but I don’t want anyone to overlook the intangibles of CSU’s influence on the local quality of life, on individuals whose lives we help change, on communities we help build and dreams we help realize.” The university’s commitment extends to bolstering the region’s workforce infrastructure, and Rayfield noted that the USG’s study emphasizes that role. During FY23, the university generated 2,685 full- and part-time jobs in the region. Two-thirds of those were community-based, off-campus jobs. The remaining third were university jobs, making CSU a top-10 Columbus employer. Columbus State’s regional impact is part of the University System of Georgia’s collective $21.9 billion FY23 contribution to Georgia’s economy. That is a $1.8 billion, or 9%, increase over FY22. The study also showed that USG, over the same period, generated 163,332 full- and part-time jobs across Georgia.
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