As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, California Lutheran University has taken the wraps off a much-anticipated economic impact study.

It turns out that the Thousand Oaks campus pumped $142 million into the Ventura County economy in its last fiscal year, accounting for about 1,400 jobs and, importantly, more than $20 million in capital expenditures, including campus construction.

More work needs to be done to fine tune the impact, including trying to assess the role that volunteer efforts play on and off campus.
But this is an important first step in understanding how higher education  is emerging as a key driver for the economy of Ventura County.

We’d encourage county officials to pay attention to the CLU study and consider using a similar methodology to assess the roles that California State University Channel Islands, the community college district and others play in the area economy.