Grand Valley State University draws
thousands of students, faculty and administration to its campuses and
surrounding businesses, infusing the local economy with hundreds of
millions of dollars each year, one purchase at a time. That impact is
on the upswing with record enrollment bringing more students, and a
corresponding increase in faculty, to the region.
According to excerpts from the story:
GRAND RAPIDS -- Coffee and snack food
may not be the best thing for a college student to fuel a young
person's appetite, but Grand Valley State University students' buying
habits go a long way toward fueling the West Michigan economy. As Christian Goedel sipped coffee from a 20-ounce cup at The Bitter End and marveled at how The Bitter End makes ends meet.
The
23-year-old Grand Valley State University business major paid $2.25 for
a 20-ounce cup of fair trade coffee at the 24/7 shop, a few blocks west
of campus on West Fulton Street. "Knowing how hard this economy is on
all businesses, you wonder how they can afford to operate around the
clock," said Goedel, a senior from Sebewaing.
What Goedel did
not factor in was how much business he and other Grand Valley students
and staff -- not to mention GVSU itself -- infuse into the region's
economy. Bottom line: It's not pocket change.
Read the complete story here.
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