Georgia colleges and universities contribute more than $23 billion a year to the state's economy and create more than 130,000 jobs, said Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough, who chaired an economic impact study for the Board of Regents.

"What other appropriation of state funding gives you this kind of return?" he asked, noting that the overall economic impact of the University System in fiscal year 2004 was 15 times more than the state's appropriation of $1.6 billion.

Clough presented the Total Impact Task Force report at the board's January meeting and told the regents that public higher education contributes $4 billion — $712 million in research grants alone — directly to the state's economy and $5.9 billion indirectly. A whopping $10.5 billion comes from additional annual salary earned by University System graduates compared to those with a high school education. Another $2.9 billion comes from new sales and cost savings derived from outreach programs like Tech's Advanced Technology Development Center.

The task force found that more than 107,000 Georgians were employed in positions that existed because of the University System. Another 23,000 were working at jobs created by the University System's work in commercializing new technologies and in jobs created or saved by economic-outreach efforts.