CHICAGO (WBBM) -- It may not be surrounded by cornfields but Chicago is the state's largest college town.
The effects of that amount to 4 billion dollars a year in direct and indirect spending, according to a new survey.
The Chicago Loop Alliance tracked student, university and staff expenditures in 2008.
In the Loop alone, there are 65 thousand undergraduate and graduate students at 24 universities, spending an estimated 60 million dollars a year.
That puts it at twice the student size of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Chicago numbers do not include the UIC population.
Spending is likely to go up next year, according to CLA executive director Ty Tabing because higher learning attracts more students when the job market is down.
The Alliance promotes economic development in the Loop.
Tabing says one of the ways they plan to use the survey data is to encourage more eateries to move into the Loop as students expressed a desire for more affordable, non-fast food options.
During the debate over state funding of MAP grants for college students, Tabing says the economic data helped demonstrate how vital the student population is to downtown Chicago.
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