The pretty city of Guelph is lined with limestone buildings and – come September – students arriving to hit both the books and the vibrant local music scene. Like any university town, the “Royal City” attracts its fair share of shot-slamming, partying post-secondary students, wandering the 800-acre campus in the bright light of a Friday morning, desperately searching for their next class.
These hungover freshman might indeed compose part of the fabric of the school community, making it tempting to dismiss students in your town as a drunk-and-disorderly element that does more harm than good. But it would be a mistake to assume that all 20,000 students attending the nearly 150-year-old institution of University of Guelph act more as a drag to the city than a bolster. In fact, studies are showing that students contribute a huge amount to the communities that host them each year.
Let’s look at a few financial facts:
Students Spend
Buying everything from new clothes to notebooks, books to ballet lessons, to summer storage rentals and sublets, students spend an average of $1100 per month in local economies, including Guelph’s. In fact, in this bucolic southern Ontario city, the local university population pushes nearly $23 million into city businesses per month. Over the eight months of the school year, this is a windfall of nearly $183 million contributing directly to the well-being and prosperity of many within the city.
Students Work
Most students aren’t just attending class. They’re also rushing to their evening counter shift at the coffee shop or filling the weekend hours serving customers at the dollar store. In fact, 78% of students work through school in order to support themselves and 44% found employment off campus, according to a study conducted by Maclean’s Magazine.
Students Encourage Jobs
Hundreds of thousands of jobs – 700,000, in fact – are created by the presence of universities and colleges, according to a Conference Board of Canada report, fuelling a whopping $55 billion into local economies.
Students Strengthen Community
The stereotype of the self-obsessed sorority gal is just that: a stereotype that doesn’t match the reality of most students. In fact, the majority are giving a great deal, both economically and through volunteer and community work. Guelph’s own Community Engaged Scholarship Institute has connected students with organizations like the Guelph Community Health Centre and the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership, enabling these smart and studious academic citizens to make important and valuable contributions.
The bottom line is that if you live in a university town, you have a lot to be thankful for. Sure, orientation week might be a bit bumpy with the newbie renters still figuring out what day to drag their garbage curb-side or that they can’t possibly party seven days of the week, but ultimately things will settle down. Sooner or later you’ll be strolling through the beautiful Guelph arboretum with a genuine smile of appreciation for the students you see.
