http://www.westernherald.com/news/wmu-impacts-kalamazoos-economy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wmu-impacts-kalamazoos-economy
A trivial information of the impact we have on the county's economy.
Kzoo generates approximately $2,000,000 each year by attracting visitors on campus who spend money on various availability in the county.
WMU generates around 9,500 job positions in the county. They attract 10x more visitors through athletics, large scaled events, and research sources. Western brings around $500,000,000 a year.
Should we try to increase the number of students to benefit botht the college and the community? How do your family and friends spend money when they come to visit you?
Interesting article. In my opinion, Kalamazoo is not a "college town". The student population in Kalamazoo is comparable to that of other college towns. However, I feel as though Kalamazoo suffers from too much sprawl. While many other college towns concentrate businesses that attract students into a consolidated area, Kalamazoo does not have the structure. I think the economy could generate more revenue if businesses were more concentrated.
ReplyDeleteI agree with ryan about the sprawl. I know when my parents and family come to town we usually eat on westnage rd closer to portage but we do goto the bars downtown
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Ryan and Andy. I don't think we should increase our student body very much either. Whenever my parents come we always go to portage to eat.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should not increase the student population to try and bring money to Kalamazoo. When my parents come to K we usually go to Portage to eat.
ReplyDeleteI agree the problem is not the student body size but Kalamazoo needs to be more like Portage in terms of the attractiveness of businesses and social places.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Kalamazoo College should increase their student body to no more than 2,500 students. I sometimes find the college to be too small and campus is "lively" no more than a handful of times per year. This increase in the student body would make is more comparable to other schools in the MIAA. It would also allow our campus to be more energetic and notable.
ReplyDeleteI believe jake has a good point on this one, even though portage is very close and many students are attracted there to eat, shop, etc, an increase in enrollment will benefit the city. Obviously we can not increase to the size of western, but a slight increase may attract more student-oriented businesses downtown and closer to our campus.
ReplyDeleteI definitely see Kalamazoo College growing in the next ten years. With the addition of the athletic fields, a new wave of students will be highly interested in visiting K their senior year in high school, resulting in more applications. Jake Schell is definitely right, though, on the number of students not surpassing 2500.
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