GREENSBORO, N.C. — Thursday, August 10th, was a monumental day for North Carolina A&T,
“It’s quite an in-depth study that requires a lot of data from different sources. So, pulling together the data and then doing the modeling is about eight months to do," Associate Economics Professor for A&T, Dr. Cephas Naanwaab said.
The 2022 report regarding the university’s economic impact on North Carolina has been released.
And, not surprisingly, it’s great news.
“We found in this report is that North Carolina A&T State University makes a total economic impact of $2.4 billion on the state economy," Dr. Naanwaab said.
“There are several indicators, regarding the success of a university, but one of those is economic impact. The whole point about this is that we are doing many things right at North Carolina A&T as it relates to the growth of our students. The type of students were bringing in and also those who graduate because the economic impact shows at North Carolina A&T is making a difference. A big difference for the whole state," A&T Provost, Dr. Tonya Smith-Jackson said.
For the past eight months, A&T professors and economists took into consideration a multitude of factors including operational, student, alumni, and research spending, to paint A&T’s economic portrait.
“The university is contributing $1.4 billion to state GDP. That again is a huge number, right? And then you talk about employment, North Carolina AMT State University is supporting over 17,000 jobs right here in our state," Dr. Naanwaab added.
To put it simply, A&T’s same study in 2018, had their economic footprint at $1.42 billion. Flash forward to their 2022 fiscal year, and that number has gone up to $2.4 billion – a 63% increase.
"Certainly, this means absolute success for our students because when all this boils down to all this growth, all the wonderful things that come with growth and accomplishments and contributions of the university is it spills back in success for our students," Dr. Smith-Jackson said.
Overall, not only is this a positive for the Piedmont-Triad and the state of North Carolina, it’s an upward trajectory for A&T.
“I see this university as continuing to grow, as being a university that is outstanding across the nation, and not just compared to HBCUs, compared to all institutions in the United States," Dr. Smith-Jackson said.