The Center for Community and Business Research at the UTSA Institute for Economic Development calculates that direct spending by and induced spending from the ten largest San Antonio colleges and universities reached $2.2 billion in 2004. The study also indicates that more than 100,000 students attended the 31 institutions of higher education in and around San Antonio that year.

"The array of San Antonio’s institutions of higher education is a draw for both personal achievement and new economic development," said Tessa Martinez-Pollack, president of Our Lady of the Lake University and chairman of the Higher Education Council of San Antonio (HECSA). "This study shows the impact of higher education spending as another dimension of our contribution to the local economy."

The study indicates that direct spending on operating expenses, capital improvements, and salaries and benefits by the 10 largest higher education institutions and spending by their non-local students accounted for $1.5 billion in 2004. Additional rounds of spending in the form of such things as construction supplier contracts and consumer spending by university personnel for housing, food, and services resulted in an additional impact of nearly $800 million.

Additionally, the study found that the ten largest higher education institutions in San Antonio generated 24,851 jobs in 2004, accounting for 3.3 percent of non-agricultural employment in the eight county area.

The study was commissioned by HECSA. Mark Hager, Director of the Center for Community and Business Research, reported results of the study at a luncheon sponsored by the San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on November 21, 2006.

Established in 1974, the Higher Education Council of San Antonio promotes and develops higher education in San Antonio and Bexar County through inter-institutional collaboration and engagement with the business, cultural, political and K-12 leadership of the community.

The colleges and universities included in the study are the University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio College, St. Philip’s College, Northwest Vista College, Palo Alto College, University of the Incarnate Word, St. Mary’s University, Our Lady of the Lake University, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Trinity University.