Economic opportunity report shows positive impact

A Michigan education with a close-knit campus feel. Faculty with real-world experience.  Research opportunities.There are many qualitative answers to the question: “Why earn a degree at University of Michigan-Dearborn?”

But a new Economic Opportunity Impact Report conducted and compiled by Associate Professor of Business Economics Lee Redding, iLabs Director Tim Davis and Decision Sciences Lecturer Anne-Louise Statt quantifies the “Why?” and finds that UM-Dearborn graduates earn more than their peers nationwide.

“Hearing from our students, many who are first-generation, we know the impact the university has on their lives,” Redding said. “But we wanted numbers to show this, too. Stories are nice, but people want hard numbers. They are investing in their futures or their children’s futures when paying for college. We wanted to show the return on that investment.”

The report showed:

• Those whose most advanced degree is an UM-Dearborn bachelor’s earn $81,101, $43,140 more than if they had not earned that degree.
• Those whose most advanced degree is an UM-Dearborn master’s earn $105,600, $48,000 more than if they had not earned that degree.
• Each year, alumni earn $1.8 billion more than they would have without the education they worked for at the university.
• Recognizing that approximately 75 percent of UM-Dearborn alumni stay in Michigan, the increase in their incomes shows that every dollar the state invests, alumni are providing an additional $4 in tax return.

When you include various aspects of the UM-Dearborn undergraduate student body–e.g., 43 percent are Pell Grant-eligible, over half are the first generation to attend college, 26 percent are minorities–higher-than-average salary earnings provide UM-Dearborn students with a real advantage to transform their lives and change the trajectory of their families’ success.

The study shows that UM-Dearborn is an outstanding investment, echoing the news from the United States Department of Education Scorecard’s 2015 findings. They showed that Dearborn’s average annual net price for in-state, undergraduate students is the lowest among Michigan’s 15 public universities, and that an average UM-Dearborn alumni salary 10 years after graduation is more than 25 percent higher than the national average.

“People come to UM-Dearborn and have their lives transformed. And then they do the same for the Michigan communities where they work and reside. It matches nicely with our metropolitan vision,” Davis said. “The UM-Dearborn degree is an investment that continually has positive returns.”