SUNY New Paltz employed 1,623 people in the 2017-18 academic year, retaining its status as the No. 1 employer in Ulster County, according to the latest Economic Impact Study conducted by the College’s Budget Office.
Overall, New Paltz generated $380.5 million in direct and indirect economic activity in the Hudson Valley through college spending (contracts, supplies and construction), student and visitor spending and employee salaries. This represents nearly a $22 million increase since the previous study of the 2014-15 year, and equates to approximately 3,495 direct and indirect jobs created in the region.
More key data points from SUNY New Paltz’s Economic Impact Study of the 2017-18 academic year can be viewed on a new Economic Impact website, organized into topic areas like economic activity, employment, direct and indirect spending and alumni earnings.
Additional findings from the study include:
- The economic activity generated in all of New York State amounted to $447 million and 4,128 jobs created.
- The College’s total revenue and expenditures totaled $187 million.
- Non-wages expenditures totaled $53.9 million, representing a decrease of more than $2 million from expenditures in 2014-15, as the College sought to decrease expenses and continue to manage its budget carefully.
- The total salary expenditure was $79.6 million, 92% of which was paid in the Hudson Valley.
- The fall 2017 enrollment at New Paltz was 7,565 students, with 6,570 undergraduate students and 754 graduate students. Student spending amounted to $128.9 million.
- Visitors to campus spent an estimated $6.1 million on lodging, meals, recreation, transportation and shopping in New Paltz and the surrounding areas.
- There are approximately 55,600 SUNY New Paltz alumni of working age (defined as 65 and younger), 42% of whom reside in the Hudson Valley. Those alumni generate $520.2 million in value-added annual earnings (above what they would earn with only a high school degree) in the Hudson Valley. An estimated 79% of New Paltz alumni reside in New York State.
- SUNY New Paltz employees provide thousands of hours of community service to the Hudson Valley, as volunteers at social welfare organizations, arts collectives, civic and advocacy groups, professional associations and sports leagues. Employees volunteered about 158,000 hours and generated more than $4.3 million in economic impact in 2014-2015; the report of employee volunteerism for 2017-18 could not be published due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the area’s largest four-year institution of higher education, New Paltz is central to the economic health and well-being of the Hudson Valley. The College provides these benefits in addition to its core educational mission and cultural offerings, creating and retaining jobs today, while educating students for careers and engaged citizenship tomorrow.
About the SUNY New Paltz Economic Impact Study
The Economic Impact Study reports on overall economic activity generated by the College and the diverse ways it supports the economies of Ulster County, the Hudson Valley and New York State.
New Paltz conducts studies of its economic impact approximately every three years. The 2019 study uses data from the 2017-18 fiscal year.
For this study, “the Hudson Valley” includes Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan, Rockland, Putnam and Westchester Counties.
The study relied on the 2017 RIMS II multipliers, a system of methods, measures and formulae developed and approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, to estimate economic impact. Read more about RIMS II on the BEA’s website.
