The Savannah College of Art and Design’s (SCAD) economic impact on Georgia has reached an all-time high, according to a study conducted by Tripp Umbach, the leading national consulting firm for not-for-profit, arts, and tourism sectors. In fiscal year 2023, SCAD generated $1.3 billion in annual economic impact for the state of Georgia, a 70% increase from the last report conducted for fiscal year 2019.
Tripp Umbach analyzed the economic impact of SCAD using the IMPLAN input-output model. Primary data collected from SCAD and the firm’s benchmarking databases, developed over 30 years from experience with hundreds of similar studies, found SCAD has a tremendous and overwhelmingly positive influence on the vitality of the economy in the state through jobs, student and visitor spending, large investment into capital projects, operational spending, public events, alumni earning power, public safety, and charitable giving.
“In 1979, 71 students enrolled for SCAD’s first academic year. Some 45 years later, SCAD has defied all odds and grown into the world’s biggest and best university for creative professions, generating a monumental $1.3 billion annually for Georgia,” SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace said. “Equally impressive is this data point: 74,000, the total number of SCAD students and alumni drawn to Georgia from every U.S. state and more than 120 nations to learn at the world’s elite university for applied research and invention. SCAD Bees also join Georgia’s workforce — in tech, entertainment, design, manufacturing, finance, health care, and more — leading and launching their own startups and providing employment for their neighbors.”
SCAD is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering 100 academic degree programs to its more than 17,500 students across its locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow. The university’s mission is to prepare talented students for creative professions through…
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