08/20/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/20/2025 09:59
Included in UNG's economic impact is almost $286 million in spending by about 18,000 students, which alone created 2,941 jobs in the area. On average, for every dollar spent by the university, an additional 44 cents are generated for the region.
UNG has campuses in Blue Ridge, Cumming, Dahlonega, Gainesville, and Oconee County. The study area included those communities and the contiguous counties - Barrow, Clarke, Dawson, Fannin, Forsyth, Gilmer, Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, Oconee, Union, and White counties. Study areas for each school in the report were defined based on the Residence County to Workplace County Flows for Georgia, 2009-2013 from the U.S. Census Bureau.
UNG also had a regional employment impact of 6,184 jobs in the same period. The employment impact includes 1,871 on-campus jobs. The report noted that on average, for each job created on campus, more than two off-campus jobs exist because of spending related to the institution.
As a whole, all USG public colleges and universities in 2024 had a statewide impact of $23.1 billion, a 5.4% increase.