Dr. Denise Henning Medicine Hat College
College is an economic engine
Ever wonder who benefits when a dollar is spent by taxpayers or students at Medicine Hat College? I’m happy to say that a new study proves we all do. In fact, education happens to be one of the best investments individuals or governments can make.
This isn’t just words.
A comprehensive economic impact study commissioned by Medicine Hat College and eight other Alberta colleges revealed that attending college pays huge dividends for students who complete post-secondary education, reduces costs for taxpayers, and boosts revenue for businesses who hire college graduates.
Let’s begin with students. They can be assured that their investment in education pays off handsomely. The study shows that students not only recover the cost of the original investment but also receive an additional $2.50 in benefits over and above every $1 in costs. If you consider this as if you were making a personal investment, students earn an annual internal return of 18.5 per cent.
While these individual students benefit from their time and tuition invested with MHC, taxpayers do too.
The stats show that students with advanced education are more likely to develop good health habits, commit fewer crimes, and depend less on income assistance. This is a great deal for the taxpayer; college grads earn more and therefore pay more taxes, but at the same time require less public assistance.
Looking at this another way, for every $1 of public money spent at MHC, taxpayers receive a cumulative return of $2.40 over the course of students’ working lives in the form of higher tax receipts and public sector savings.
Businesses benefit too. The enhanced skills of well-trained college students help increase the productivity of the businesses that hire them. And the majority of our grads support the province over the course of their careers. Looking at Medicine Hat College specifically, almost 90 per cent of our graduates remain in Alberta to build their careers and families.
How much do grads contribute?
The study says that the accumulated contribution of former students currently employed in the provincial workforce amounted to $3.1 billion in added income in the single year of the study. That’s a lot no matter how you look at the numbers.
There’s local benefit too. The college has a positive impact on the regional economy to the tune of almost $170 million each year. That’s the total impact generated by MHC’s payroll, which is over $30 million annually, the college’s other expenditures, as well as student spending.
The bottom line is equally impressive: For every dollar that provincial taxpayers spent on MHC, society as a whole in Alberta will receive a cumulative value of $14.30 in benefits.
Celebrating
50 years of higher education
F PEGGY REVELL
rom just 97 full time students to 2,3000 students earning credits.
It’s been a busy 50 years for Medicine Hat College.
“We were clearly among the earliest community
colleges in the province,” said VP Academic Len Vandervaart on the origin of MHC, with the push to build the college coming from the local school divisions alongside a general push from across Canada for community colleges to be established.
“Lots of the colleges were junior colleges,” said MHC librarian Keith Walker. “So people could stay in the smaller areas.”
“Which is still the large focus of what we do now,” added Chuck Payne, Interim Vice-President for Advancement & Community Relations
The fi rst programs offered at MHC included university transfer programs for agriculture, arts, commerce, education, household economics, law, nursing, pharmacy, physical education, pre-medicine, pre-dentistry, pre- veterinary medicine, science.
58 2015 REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA
“I’m sure there was a push from the business community too,” added Walker, noting there was also the baby boomer generation finishing up high school.
MHC started out not at its current site, but in the north wing of Medicine Hat High School, said Valarie Westers, who handles archives at MHC. Offices were in a house across the street.
During its first year in 1965, there were 97 full-time students and 11 part-time students.
The first courses taught at the college were university transfers — areas like home economics, nursing, pharmacy, pre-med and law— with the idea that students would attend at MHC, and then transfer on to a university, she explained.
Then in 1967, the first full programs were introduced — college prep, office technology and business administration.
But while the college was in a high school, students didn’t want it to feel like one.
“The students felt it was very important to have a college library versus a high school one,” said Walker and as a fundraiser, students sent letters to Hollywood stars asking them for neckties which were then auctioned off — the biggest name who responded was apparently Peter Sellers.
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