Higher education leaders in Kansas often allude to the economic value the state’s universities, community colleges and vocational-technical schools bring to the state. Now they have some numbers to support that claim.

According to a study released last week by the Kansas Board of Regents, every dollar in state tax support to higher education results in $11.94 in economic activity in the state. That includes everything from meals and T-shirts sold to university visitors to the jobs created by new high-tech firms.

Breaking the figures down a little more, in 2010, the Board of Regents system produced about $3.4 billion in wages and salary impacts, 95,327 additional jobs and $485 million in state and local tax collections. The total overall impact of the state’s higher education institutions was $7.3 billion.

It’s an impressive number, one that higher education officials hope will get the attention of state lawmakers.

The figures that might be most impressive to those making the state’s budget decisions are those that directly tie public higher education to economic development in Kansas. People with more education and training fill higher-paying jobs and pay more state and local taxes.

In turn those workers help support highly prized high-tech industry in the state. According to the study, between 2000 and 2008, Kansas counties that include a state university gained 13.7 high-tech firms per 100,000 residents. Those with community and technical colleges gained 2.8 firms per 100,000 residents.

The Kansas University Cancer Center was used as an example of how institutions drive development of high-tech firms in the surrounding area. In addition to as many as 9,400 permanent jobs the center expects to create in 10 years, the center will drive construction activities and other benefits.

The study also looks at what higher education institutions contribute to the state’s quality of life. It showed how communities with a Regents institution are much more likely to maintain or increase their population levels and how arts and humanities programs, business seminars and other programs enhance the quality of life in the state. It also puts a dollar amount on the volunteer services contributed by faculty, state and students in counties that are home to a regents school.

One down side to the study is that it seems to confirm the have and have-not divide between communities that have a state university, community college or technical school and those that do not. Counties with a regents school tend to maintain their population and reap the benefits of increased economic activity and volunteer participation, while other counties continue to fall behind.

The challenge of those trying to use these figures to boost support for higher education in the state is to convince lawmakers that the economic and quality-of-life benefits that seem to cluster around university and community college communities also benefit the state as a whole. It’s obvious, for example, that without the economic activity tied to higher education in the state, the financial challenges now facing the state would be far greater.

The ability of higher education officials to make that connection in lawmakers’ minds is vital to higher education funding prospects, as well as the future of rural Kansas.