Texas A&M University’s economic influence on the State of Texas for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 has surged to $20.8 billion, according to recently released data analyzing Texas A&M’s spending on operations, research and construction, along with its entrepreneurial activities and the spending of its students, visitors and former students.
“As the nation’s largest public university, our impact today is as important as the impact our students will go on to have in the future,” said Interim President Mark A. Welsh III. “Beyond the dollar impact, the inventions, research discoveries, and stories of the great citizens we’re graduating are making a real difference in our state, nation and worldwide.”
Each year, the university conducts a comprehensive economic analysis that examines its statewide impact at both the statewide level and within specific regions such as the Brazos Valley and Galveston. The assessment also includes the contributions from the Health Science Center. During the 2021-2022 fiscal year, Texas A&M employed 15,246 full-time and part-time faculty and staff (excluding research employees) across all campuses. Enrollment at Texas A&M campuses totaled 73,283 students in fall 2021. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of out-of-state visitors drawn to Texas for activities at Texas A&M brought new dollars to the economy through spending at hotels, restaurants, gas stations and other state businesses. Today, we have more than 574,000 former students around the world with 75% still here in Texas, contributing to the state’s economy.
Current university, employee, student and visitor spending amounted to $7.5 billion in added income to the state economy. Texas A&M’s former students currently employed in the state workforce contributed $13.3 billion in added income to the state. This — coupled with the university, employee, student and visitor spending — brings the total dollar impact to $20.8 billion. This is equivalent to supporting 244,650 jobs and is equal to approximately 0.9% of the GSP of Texas.
Brazos Valley
With its main campus in College Station, Texas A&M has a tremendous impact on the entire Brazos Valley (Brazos, Burleson, Robertson, Grimes, Washington, Madison and Leon counties). In FY 21-22, Texas A&M’s spending on operations, research and construction, along with its entrepreneurial activities and the spending of its students and visitors, added $2.7 billion in income to the Brazos Valley economy. When also accounting for former students, the impact sums to $3.4 billion in added income to the Brazos Valley economy, which is about equal to 18.5% of the region’s total gross regional product (GRP). Texas A&M and its current and former students support 57,900 jobs in Brazos Valley – approximately one out of every four jobs in Brazos Valley.
Galveston
In FY 21-22, Texas A&M at Galveston’s spending on operations, construction and research, as well as the spending of its students and visitors added $58.8 million to the county economy. When also accounting for former students, the impact sums to a value approximately equal to $87 million in added income to the county economy, approximately 0.5% of the county’s total gross regional product (GRP). By comparison, this impact from Texas A&M at Galveston is nearly half as large as the entire Utilities industry in the county. Texas A&M at Galveston and its current and former students support 1,400 jobs.
Health Science Center
In FY 21-22, the Texas A&M HSC’s spending on operations, research, and construction, along with its entrepreneurial activities and the spending of its students and visitors, added $719.7 million in income to the Texas economy. When also accounting for former students, the impact sums to a value approximately equal to $1.3 billion in added income to the Texas economy. Texas A&M HSC and its current and former students support 18,450 jobs.
View comprehensive analyses at tx.ag/econimpact.
About the Data
The analysis was conducted by Lightcast on behalf of Texas A&M University. Data and assumptions used in the study are based on several sources, including the FY 2021-22 academic and financial reports from Texas A&M, industry and employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau, outputs of Lightcast’s Multi-Regional Social Accounting Matrix model, and a variety of studies and surveys relating education to social behavior. Lightcast’s methodology for this study adheres to the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) guidelines. The study applies a conservative methodology and follows standard practice using only the most recognized indicators of economic impact and investment effectiveness.
By Megan Lacy, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing & Communications
