FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY PROVIDES MAJOR ECONOMIC STIMULUS TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, ACCORDING TO NEW STUDY

May 3, 2004 - Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles annually generates more than $250 million in direct economic activity and has an overall impact of nearly two-thirds of a billion dollars in the Southern California economy, university officials reported today at a meeting of the institution's Board of Trustees.

According to an economic impact analysis conducted recently, LMU supports 8,300 full-time permanent jobs in Southern California through direct employment and university and student expenditures. Conservatively, officials said, the university's students spend an estimated $92 million annually in the local economy.

"Although LMU is often recognized as an economic partner on Los Angeles' west side, it is clear from this study that the university has a significant influence on the Southern California economy as a whole," said President Robert B. Lawton, SJ. "Our faculty and staff live all around the region, and about 70 percent our 53,000 alumni live and work in Southern California.

"Moreover, LMU has a stabilizing effect on the community: student enrollment, staff and faculty employment, and operating budgets and student spending remain relatively constant year after year. Our educational activities also bring thousands of visitors and conferees into the Los Angeles area annually."

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, said the LMU analysis provides an important source of information. "People don't understand the impact that colleges and universities have on the economy of Los Angeles," said Kyser. "Not only do they create jobs, but they attract new people to the area, thus enriching our talent pool. The graduates of LMU help drive growth of many of our high value local industries."

The economic impact study presented to the university's board was undertaken by LMU and is based on financial data for fiscal year 2002, using standard econometric models developed by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

LMU has 8,000 students pursuing more than 80 majors and academic programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, as well as 350 faculty and 500 staff. The university operates two facilities: a main campus in Los Angeles' Westchester neighborhood [near LAX and Playa Vista], and Loyola Law School in downtown Los Angeles.

According to the study, LMU employees earn more than $83 million, most of which is reinvested in homes, durable goods, living expenses, entertainment, and other goods and services purchased in the region. The university and its employees annually pay more than $22 million in state and federal taxes.

Lawton noted that the importance of the University to the region goes far beyond basic economic factors. "As the only Jesuit Catholic institution of higher education in Southern California and the southwestern United States, LMU enriches the region's intellectual and cultural experiences, sponsors research into the unique contributions of Southern California to the state and the nation, creates leaders for a diverse society, and fosters social justice in business, professional, and community life," he said.

LMU also provides a substantial contribution through community service, said Lawton. The university's faculty, staff, and students annually volunteer 117,000 hours of service to efforts ranging from tutoring at-risk children to helping build housing for the needy. Loyola Law School was the first law school in California to require 40 hours of pro bono service as a curricular requirement.

Founded in 1911, Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles is the eighth largest of the nation's 28 Jesuit colleges and universities and the largest Catholic university in Southern California. With a strong base in the liberal arts, LMU consists of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, the College of Business Administration, the College of Communication and Fine Arts, the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering, the School of Education, the School of Film and Television, the Graduate Division, LMU Extension, and Loyola Law School. For more information, please visit the LMU website at http://www.lmu.edu.

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