City revolves around university

Jim Roberts hears daily about the effects of Kansas University on the Lawrence economy.

Recently, an East Coast drug development business called Roberts, associate vice chancellor for KU’s Center for Research.

Company leaders were considering relocating and had heard KU was purchasing a $2.5 million nuclear magnetic resonance equipment to view proteins. They wondered if the business came to Lawrence would KU let them use the equipment when university scientists weren’t using it.

Roberts said the story was one of many examples of how KU affects the Lawrence economy.

“I think it bodes well for the relationship between KU and the community,” Roberts said.

David Burress, research economist with KU’s Policy Research Institute, said there isn’t much in Lawrence that isn’t affected by the university.

“In terms of bringing money into the community, there’s nothing comparable,” he said. “The university dominates this town.”

KU officials estimated it cost about $11,400 last year for each of KU’s 26,900 to attend the university. About $2,900 was spent on tuition and fees, with much of the rest spent away from the university.

Even the money paid to KU is redistributed to faculty and staff, who in turn spend money in the community.

And, Burress said, having professors and students in town leads to a better quality of life.

“It’s a nice town to live in,” he said. “It has a bar scene and rock groups. It’s a cultural hotbed. It supports tourism, and there are conventions coming here. Even things that aren’t the university are related to the university.”

Tim Van Leer, executive director of the Lied Center of Kansas, said KU isn’t that much different from other university towns in that it attracts rock bands for the college crowd and other events such as lectures and symphony performances for older crowds, including professors.

“I think it certainly goes hand-in-hand,” he said. “The arts is an integral part of KU and an integral part of Lawrence. This breaks down the town and gown aspect of it.”

Lynn Parman, vice president for economic development at the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said having education as a major industry has softened the blow of the recent recession.

“We don’t necessarily feel the highs and the lows of the national economy,” she said. “Sept. 11 didn’t affect us that much.”

She said Lawrence’s workforce which has the sixth highest percentage of workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to Census data is another indicator of what it means to be a college town.

Parman said she expected KU’s research particularly in the area of life sciences to be a major factor in Lawrence’s future. There currently are 18 spin-off companies from KU research many of them in Lawrence and that number should increase in the future.

“I think the possibilities are endless as far as the capacity for KU and the Center for Research,” Parman said.