They’re baack!” At this time of year, we’re not talking about gremlins; we instead refer to the thousands of college students returning for a new school year at over 20 Vermont colleges and universities. They come in cars packed to the gills, and they live in dorms and apartments throughout the state. Their purpose in coming? To be educated at institutions of higher learning. So doing, however, students impact local economies. How so? Jay Taylor, a senior who served as president of the student government at the University of Vermont this past year, has an easier question to answer: “How don’t they affect the economy?” Taylor asks.

“Generally speaking,” says Middlebury College Professor Michael Claudon, “without the college, a town like Middlebury would be a very different place.” The amount of money that 2,400 students spend makes them a major economic driver of local commerce in a town of 8,000 people. Claudon points to smaller communities north and south on U.S. 7 that lack the restaurants and shops, the vibrant downtown, and the businesses that populate Middlebury as a result of the school. “This town would look more like them,” says Claudon.

Photo by Daniel E. Beards

Work Force

“Students,” says Taylor, “fill job positions.” Early in their college careers, he says, they gravitate toward jobs like waiting tables, bartending, and retail. As they approach the end of their academic careers, however, and begin to develop more specialized skill sets, they begin to look for positions unique to their fields of study.

Rob Redmond, executive director of Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace, agrees. “A single downtown restaurant, with full and part time, could employ 40 or 50 people,” says Redmond. “And what is valuable is that you have a workforce that can walk to your business.”

At Middlebury, over a dozen courses require students to go into the community. “The category of service learning,” says Claudon, “has been growing rather quickly throughout the country. The idea is to make the community a laboratory for learning.” Programs range from big brother/ big sister projects to consulting research for downtown Middlebury merchants, the Chamber of Commerce, the Addison County Economic Development Corporation, and the Porter Medical Center. Students gain experience, while local businesses and organizations benefit from their contributions—free of charge, of course.

Redmond’s organization has reaped the benefit of student interns over the years. “We have had a longstanding partnership with UVM and St. Michael’s College,” he says. Interns serve functions like giving the Marketplace a presence on Twitter and Facebook. Although the 53-year-old Redmond might not be as queued into the hottest, newest, most cutting edge social technologies, students are. “Students bring a freshness and vitality to our downtown,” he says.

A Consumer Group

Annually, the busiest shopping day of the year for Church Street merchants is the day after Thanksgiving—when most students are home with families. “It’s closely followed,” says Redmond, “by UVM’s Graduation Weekend and Parents’ Weekend.” Two of the three biggest peaks in the Marketplace’s calendar are directly connected to college events.

“Compared to when I was a student,” muses Redmond, “I would say students’ spending capacity has grown.” Today’s students have more money to spend. And students are hardly reckless spenders. “They are amazingly connected and well-informed,” Redmond says. Merchants really like the new generation; with the Internet and cellular technology they are easier to reach.

Redmond adds that students are an important component of the general public. Jay Taylor agrees. “Students are aware of where stuff comes from,” Taylor says, “and they’re aware of who owns whom.” And, he says, people his age try to speak with their wallets.

For example, Taylor and many students he knows bought into the City Market/Onion River Cooperative, which, he says, makes a commitment to supporting local agriculture and local food vendors. Why, one might wonder, would students who came from out of state feel loyal to local Vermont businesses? Taylor grew up in Virginia, but he feels a strong sense of ownership and pride in his adopted state. He hopes to find a job here after he graduates. “It takes a certain kind of person,” he says, “to want to leave New York, New Jersey, Boston, or wherever, in order to come up and study in Vermont.”

Professor Claudon does point out that there are limitations to students as a consumer group. “Their impact,” he says, “is on the retail level.” You don’t see students seeking consulting services, lawyers, architects, or designers. “You wouldn’t expect growth in those sectors of the economy centering around students,” he says.

Immeasurable

Many aspects of student impacts on local economies are difficult—if not impossible—to measure. “If you look,” says Redmond, “at where the economy is right now in the country, communities that have strong health care sectors and strong education sectors are doing better than those that don’t.” A community like Burlington, while times are still tough for everyone, has been able to lean on its colleges and medical center as economic stabilizers. This isn’t to say these institutions are immune to tough economic times; UVM, for example, has made significant job and budget cuts. Even so, Redmond points to the job opportunities that still surround Vermont’s colleges. Put this way, if college towns have been less prone to the economic slowdown, students are partially responsible.

Something that concerns Redmond is the fact that students like Taylor, who want to stay in Vermont, often can’t find work in their fields. “We need to create opportunities,” he says, “for students when they graduate.” On the other hand, Vermont is small, so how much opportunity can there be? Claudon’s pet project, Middlebury Solutions Group, pairs students with entrepreneurs and start-up businesses. The program offers services to the start-ups and experience to students—showing both what is needed to succeed.

Sometimes, says Claudon, the young graduate needs to go out into the world to gain experience before being able to settle down or take the risk of starting something new in-state. “We don’t have a critical mass here for the kind of mid-level management that college grads might find elsewhere,” he says. Still, says Claudon, sometimes they come back. “They leave,” he says, “but 10 years later they’re back.” Maybe it’s to buy a summer home; maybe they work remotely. Either way, Claudon believes that students who spend developmental years in Vermont forge connections that aren’t easily broken.

Furthermore, compare a college town to a non-college town. In places without an educational institution, you may sense something missing.

Summertime, says Redmond, is always a little quieter in downtown Burlington, and he misses the excitement the students bring. “When school is in session,” Redmond says, “there’s a little more pluck and verve on the street.” This contributes to the general quality of life. Artists and business owners may be willing to pay a little more rent to have a studio or office near that sort of energy—the sort that fuels creativity and productivity and moves people to contribute to non-profits and community service projects. “It is hard,” says Redmond, “to put a value or a measurement on things like this.”

Freelance writer Mark Aiken lives in Richmond with his wife and yellow Lab.