Santa Barbara Ranked as Economically Vulnerable College Town Due to COVID-19
Edhat Staff
July 25, 2020, 1:02 am
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By edhat staff
Santa Barbara has been ranked in the top 15 list of college towns that are most economically vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study by Smart Asset highlighted locations that are most dependent on the presence and spending habits of undergraduate populations. They compared 95 college towns with populations of 50,000 or more across six metrics.
Santa Barbara was ranked 13th citing that 26.36% of the population is due to college students with 10.13% of the workforce due to students.
“We looked at students as a percentage of the population, college staff as a percentage of workers, as well as four other metrics focused on local businesses’ reliance on college student and parent/guardian spending – concentration of restaurants & bars, entertainment establishments, bookstores, and hotels,” according to Smart Asset.
The key findings were that many midwestern and southern college towns topped the list and small college towns were likely to be hit the hardest.
The top six towns include Bloomington, Indiana; College Station, Texas; Champaign, Illinois; Athens, Georgia; Flagstaff, Arizona; and Davis, California respectively.
The full report can be found here.
Written by Edhat Staff
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6 Comments
Life is going to get a lot uglier in the next 6-12 months. And homelessness is only going to get worse.
So true, I just heard one of my esthetician friends is now living in her car. Absolutely heartbreaking
This college down economic vulnerability is offset by the fact out of town students will not get drafted to vote for any and all local tax or bond increases, and stick us with paying their bills. No packs of resident UCSB student voters could make a significant difference who gets elected for third district swing vote elections on the county board of supervisors. We could only wish they stay away permanently.
UCSB employees NEVER get laid off. They are immune. Especially the $400K/yr professors.
umm not true in the slightest. you are saying that the maintenance dept is somehow immune from lay offs, and are making 400K salaries?
Check it out! According to campus reports, 73% of international students come from mainland China where they are bullied by their country to support the Chinese Communist party as part of their opportunity to leave and learn. Mostly in engineering and sciences, including business economics. Fortunately, most do not fall in line as real spys, but…we will never know. This is our culture to take the risk willingly and hope they see a bigger picture. These students say they come here, have to work harder (accents) and hope to take knowledge back to honor families. Yes, remember Communist China has a great “disappearance” policy for the unwilling. Never changed.