Truck and Barter: Berkeley Says UC Berkely Costs Them $11 Million

June 13, 2004

Berkeley Says UC Berkely Costs Them $11 Million

By Bob

The city of Berkeley has come out with a study saying that the University which makes the town famous costs it $11 million more dollars than it generates for the city. Even though I lived in San Francisco for two years, I probably spent more time trying my junior year in high school to visit the campus than anytime while living in the Bay Area. In fact, I only visited the city to go the Pyramid Brewery while my attempt to see the school was cut short by one thing; the place is a dump.

Most of you right now are expecting me to say that the city of Berkeley should be grateful with having one of the world's premier institutions within their limits. Au contraire, the benefits of a university hasn't fallen on Berkeley, but on the Bay area as a whole. In other words, UC Berkeley has provided a positive externality. The place was a dump, but a lot of the surrounding communities are nice(well, let's be honest, the entire Northeast coast of the bay is a dump. The other areas of the region are nice). For the city to recoup its money, they should talk to places that benefit from its presence and demand compensation from them.

Posted at June 13, 2004 01:35 AM

Comments

I don't buy the idea that the university costs the city money. The university is a large employer, and its employees pay taxes, as was stated in the article.

And the students who attend Berkely may not pay much in taxes, but if it costs $7000 a year to educate a child in grades K-12, then a mere 785 familes with 2 school aged childen would cost the city $11 million. So by comparison, the college kids are cheap.

Comment by Calico Cat at June 13, 2004 12:08 PM | Permalink

Calico, you're probably right. I would say that the benefits aren't that great since most of the people working at the school don't probably live in the city and the place isn't what one would call business friendly. The real estate scene in town is probably much improved since the last time I was there, but prop. 13 limits the amount of property taxes a city collects. In fact, city have spent the last twenty five years(or at least the smart ones) trying to development sales tax revenues. Berkeley's anti-free enterprise attitude would lead me to think they would be lagging in that area.

Comment by Bob at June 15, 2004 12:11 AM | Permalink

I do not buy that this college costs the city that much money. It attracts enough students and publicity to be able to stand on its own two feet, and carry it's own weight 2 times.

Comment by Jessica at January 7, 2005 02:29 PM | Permalink