Morgan State University contributes nearly $1 billion a year to Maryland’s economy, including generating $574 million within Baltimore, a new study says.
Besides pumping $990 million annually into the economy, the university supports more than 6,500 jobs statewide, including nearly 4,000 in the city, according to an analysis by Econsult Solutions Inc., a Philadephia-based economics firm hired by the university.
Morgan generates $47 million in state tax revenues. Students and visitors inject $88 million a year in spending, while students spend more than 20,000 hours a year in community service, the report said.
“The findings revealed in this report are enlightening and significant in their proof of Morgan’s importance to the continued growth of the state’s economy, and they further illustrate how investment in this university yields a measurable and impactful return,” Morgan President David Wilson said in announcing the study Monday.
Researchers looked at data from fiscal year 2014 to fiscal year 2019. They examined operations, capital investments, student and visitor spending, wages, community commitment, innovation, and economic opportunities for local and diverse populations.
Morgan, an historically black university and an anchor in Northeast Baltimore, plays a role as the preeminent public urban research university in the state, producing scientific discoveries and yielding start-up businesses, the report said. It also found the university was more productive than the state’s other research universities as measured by invention disclosures and new patent applications per $10 million spent on research.
Wilson said many Morgan graduates have stayed in the region, “putting their degrees to work.”
The university has graduated more than 50,000 degree candidates since its founding in 1867. About 70 percent of alumni live in Maryland. About 17 percent of alumni work in science, technology, engineering and math fields, compared with 10 percent in such STEM fields for all Maryland schools, the study found.
Over the past six years, the university has committed to more than $207 million in capital investments to build the Morgan Business Center, Martin D. Jenkins Hall, and the Calvin and Tina Tyler Hall Student Services Building.
