MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A survey completed by a national consulting firm reveals the economic impact of West Virginia University and the WVU Health System equals about 17 percent of the state’s gross domestic product.
WVU President Michael T. Benson (WVU Photo)
WVU President Michael Benson said the report from Tripp Umbach shows the total impact to the state economy is about $14.3 billion annually.
“There are about 84,000 jobs that we support and that is one of every nine jobs in the state of West Virginia,” Benson said Monday on MetroNews “Talklin”. “And $890 million that we combine to pay in state and local taxes.”
WVU Medicine President and CEO Albert Wright said they have invested $3 billion in the last 10 years and have plans to invest another $3 billion over the next decade. He says their healthcare facilities provide critical care regionally- a market expansion achieved in recent years. The system has 25 hospitals and five institutes and contributes more than $11 billion to the state economy while paying $686.5 million in local and state taxes.
“When you look at the top employers in the state of West Virginia they’re all healthcare entities so in many ways we have become a healthcare state and I think that’s a good thing that will continue ion the future,” Wright said.
Benson said athletic programs are on the rise at WVU. The football program is ranked 58th among the top programs in the country. The Collegiate Licensing Company accounts for 80 percent of the $4.6 billion retail market, and the Mountaineer brand is climbing in those rankings.
“We’re currently number 11 on their client list, and you can imagine the schools that are ahead of us—Alabama, UCLA, and some of the really big names like Georgia,” Benson said.
Albert Wright
It’s now a moving target, but according to the study, WVU athletics currently accounts for $1 of every $23 spent in the $9.1 billion tourism industry in the state. The target is moving because in September of last year the Board of Governors directed Benson and his administration to come up with a plan to get WVU athletics into the top funding tier of the Big 12 conference.
“The better we do in athletics, the more exposure that brings to the university,” Benson said. “First and foremost we are an academic institution, and we’re going to double down on that mission to get into the American Association of Universities (AAU), and the process we will go through will make us a stronger and more valuable entity.”
The billions invested in the state health care system have pushed access to important critical care into the rural areas of the state. More than 2,300 West Virginians are working toward some type of medical career with the university, and more than 14,000 alumni are already caring for residents in all 55 counties.
“There are a lot of rural health care states across the country where we see hospitals closing, and it’s very gratifying to be part of the university health system where we’re making sure that these critical access points around our are not closing but thriving,” Wright said.
