MUNCIE, Ind. -- "Solid as a rock and big as a mountain," is the way a researcher describes Ball State University's economic effect on the Muncie/Delaware County community.

An economic analysis estimates the university's impact on the local economy to be $304 million each year.

Patrick M. Barkey, director of the Bureau of Business Research at Ball State, presented the results of the assessment in a briefing at the Roberts Hotel Friday. The analysis was conducted in conjunction with a recent similar study performed by Purdue University economists on the overall impact of higher education on the State of Indiana.

Barkey found that Ball State's approximately 18,500 students, 7,124 full-time equivalent employees, $121 million payroll, and $57 million in operating expenditures each year, immediately result in 7,304 additional jobs in the community and an additional $297 million in personal income.

"Based on an analysis of income and jobs, the university is the rock that anchors the local economy," he said. "Ball State provides the kind of economic strength that other communities dream about. It employs a large number of people, spends a lot of money locally, and brings in visitors and tourists who also spend their money here.

"It's solid as a rock and big as a mountain," Barkey said. In addition, the university spends an average of $15 million  annually on construction and renovation projects that employ  hundreds of area workers. Currently, construction is underway on a $7.5 million Alumni Center, a $12 million residence hall renovation, and an $8 million renovation of the old Ball Gymnasium.

Barkey pointed out that although Ball State is a state institution and pays no local property taxes, the university generates tax revenues in several ways:

• $195 million in consumer spending results in $3.9 million in sales tax revenues;

• $297 million in personal income results in $9.2 million in state income tax and $2.4 million in county income tax revenues;

• an increase of 26,085 people in the local population results in a 2.1 percent increase in property values and $6.4 million in property tax revenues.

The university also accounts for 133,107 visitor days per year. That is, one visitor staying one day in area hotels and eating at local restaurants.

"The best news about these numbers is their stability," said Barkey. "The university tends not to fluctuate like the business world."

Ball State's enrollment, which climbed rapidly in the 1960s, has averaged approximately 18,000 students for more than 20 years. Enrollment this fall is 18,594.