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USF: Creating Opportunities

A new report details the university’s role as a catalyst for growth across the state of Florida.

Key terms explained:

Direct Effect: University spending on wages and purchases from Florida-based vendors.

Indirect Effect: Stems from business-to-business purchases in the supply chain.

Induced Effect: The values stemming from household spending of labor income.

From business and job creation to addressing coastal and climate change; from responding to critical health care needs to preparing students for career success, and so much more, USF is creating opportunities throughout the Tampa Bay region.

Now, a new report details the university’s role as a catalyst for growth across the state of Florida.

Compiled by a team from the Muma College of Business, the report shows that USF, one of Florida’s largest urban research universities had an economic impact of $6.02 billion in fiscal 2019-20.

“In this report, the breadth and depth of USF’s economic impact can be seen in all aspects of the university’s operations — from the students it educates, to the faculty and professional staff it employs, to the talented professionals and entrepreneurs who power a modern innovation economy, to the construction projects that shaped the campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee,” the executive summary notes.

Shivendu Shivendu, associate professor of information systems, led the team that conducted the study and compiled the report. The other contributors were: Roohid Ahmed Syed, MS ’18, doctoral student in information systems; Rishabh Srivastava, master’s student in business analytics and information systems; and Ankita Sharma, master’s student in business analytics and information systems.

“Thanks to the commitment of our faculty, staff, students and alumni, and the support of our state, federal and private partners, USF is a powerful engine of prosperity across Florida,” USF President Rhea F. Law says. “By graduating students who are career-ready, generating knowledge that addresses our most pressing issues, and fostering more inclusive communities, USF is contributing to the vitality and vibrancy of our region and state.”

Among the report’s key findings:

• With 16,277 employees, USF is the 14th largest public employer in Florida.
  
  
• In the 2019-20 fiscal year, USF-related direct spending, together with ripple effects, supported 68,704 jobs in Florida. Many of the jobs supported by USF are in high-skill, high-wage, knowledge-based industries, such as life sciences, information technology and financial services.
  
  
• USF received state support of $427.8 million in the 2019-20 fiscal year. In turn, the university generates direct economic impact through its spending on wages and purchases from Florida-based vendors. That spending produces indirect economic impact when the local suppliers hire employees and make purchases from other local vendors. Additionally, spending of wages by employees of the university and its suppliers in the Florida economy produces induced economic impact — the values stemming from household spending of labor income.
  
  
• Every dollar in state funding helped generate $14.07 in economic output.
  
  
• In 2019-20, in addition to the Florida taxpayer money provided to support the institution, USF generated $1.43 billion in additional revenues, including from the federal government, the private sector, auxiliary enterprises and intercollegiate athletics.
  
  
• In 2019-20, in addition to the state’s support of $427.8 million, USF generated $1.43 billion in non-state government finances, including federal support, student tuition and fees, activity and service fees, intercollegiate athletics revenue and concessions.
  
  
• USF spending generated more than $600 million in federal, state and local tax revenue.
  
  
• The university amassed a record total of $535.4 million in research contracts and grants.

Across USF’s three campuses and throughout Florida, faculty, staff, students and alumni are making a positive difference. The stories on the pages that follow illustrate in human terms the many ways USF is creating opportunities throughout the region and state.