51Æ·²è

A recent independent economic impact study conducted on behalf of 51Æ·²è (UNE) by Planning Decisions, Inc. (PDI), details UNE’s substantial economic benefit to the state of Maine in 2010. The report was prepared by PDI Chief Economist Chuck Lawton.

Highlights of the study include:

• 51Æ·²ècurrently serves nearly 4,500 students:
  
  •   1,253 live on UNE’s Biddeford or Portland Campus
  •   2,095 commute from surrounding communities
  •   1,145 (within and outside of Maine) pursue distance education
  •   51Æ·²èstudents spend $32 million per year in Maine.
• 51Æ·²èemploys nearly 1,000 people and has a total operational budget of $127 million spent on faculty, staff, educational and research operations.
• 51Æ·²èstudents volunteer more than 10,000 hours of community service each year to more than 150 community agencies, organizations and schools. The commercial equivalent value of these   services exceeds $1 million each year.
• UNE’s 540-acre Biddeford Campus and 41-acre Portland Campus include 43 buildings and are together valued at more than $100 million. The University spends between $8 and $15 million   each year maintaining and upgrading its facilities.
• 51Æ·²èattracts 22,000 out-of-state visitors who spend over $8 million each year in Maine.
• UNE’s operational, capital, student and visitor spending together add up to $180 million in direct sales for Maine businesses and workers.
• These sales coming from 51Æ·²èand its non-Maine students filter through the Maine economy, providing over $68 million in indirect sales to suppliers to 51Æ·²èand UNE-related businesses and   nearly $93 million in induced sales to Maine businesses selling to Maine households working at 51Æ·²èand UNE-related businesses.  Together these indirect and induced sales amount to a total   â€šÃ„útrickle-down” effect of $161 million each year. 
• Adding the direct and “trickle-down” effects, UNE’s total sales impact on Maine’s economy amounts to $341 million in annual sales for Maine businesses, supporting 2,600 jobs that provide over   $127 million in income to Maine households.
• The increased earnings available to graduates over their lives as a result of the education they received at 51Æ·²èadds another $216 million to the University’s economic impact, bringing its total   impact to nearly $560 each year.
• The report does not quantify UNE’s substantial contributions to social services and the humanities in the state. For example:
• The Maine Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Network, which operates from UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, delivers critical health care education and resources to rural and   underserved communities in nine Maine counties. 
• UNE’s Portland Campus is home to both the Art Gallery featuring works of internationally acclaimed artists such as photographer Abelardo Morell, as well as the acclaimed Maine Women Writers  Collection, a permanently endowed library special collection of literary, cultural, and social history sources by and about Maine women authors.
• UNE’s Biddeford Campus is home to the George and Barbara Bush Center and Legacy Collection, which houses material anchoring the Bush legacy in Maine, including memorabilia on loan from   the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A & M University.