Abstract

This report assesses the impact of Dallas College on the county economy and the benefits generated by the college for students, taxpayers, and society. The results of this study show that Dallas College creates a positive net impact on the county economy and generates a positive return on investment for students, taxpayers, and society.

The value of Dallas College’s impact in terms of dollars and cents is an important component of the college’s value as a whole. In order to fully assess Dallas College’s value to the county economy, this report has evaluated the college from the perspectives of economic impact analysis and investment analysis.

The total impact of $5.1 billion is equivalent to approximately 1.3% of the total GRP of Dallas County and is equivalent to supporting 45,705 jobs. For perspective, this means that one out of every 59 jobs in Dallas County is supported by the activities of Dallas College and its students.

Since Dallas College’s activity represents an investment by various parties, including students, taxpayers, and society as a whole, we also evaluated the college as an investment to see the value it provides to these investors.

For each dollar invested by students, taxpayers, and society, Dallas College offers a benefit of 
$7.60, $2.20, and $15.20, respectively. These results indicate that Dallas College is an attractive investment to students with rates of return that exceed alternative investment opportunities. At the same time, the presence of the college expands the state economy and creates a wide range of positive social benefits that accrue to taxpayers and society in general within Texas.

Modeling the impact of the college is subject to many factors, the variability of which we considered in our sensitivity analysis (Appendix 1). With this variability accounted for, we present the findings of this study as a robust picture of the economic value of Dallas College.

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