As Connecticut continues to engage in a yearly struggle to balance its budget, some pundits question the long-term benefits of continuing to invest in our private colleges and universities. Typically the debate drifts to costs, property values, traffic congestion, post-graduate job prospects and cultures of drinking and partying. It’s easy in this chaos of misdirection to not see the books for the library, metaphorically speaking. In reality, the overall value a college or university provides to surrounding communities and its host state are innumerable.
