https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2024/11/25/southern-college-of-optometry-economic-impact.html
By Wendy Guzmán – Reporter, Memphis Business Journal Nov 25, 2024
Listen to this article 4 min
The Southern College of Optometry (SCO), which is located in the Medical District, is home to 520 optometrists in training.
The college can be overlooked, though that shouldn’t be the case, according to George Miller, SCO's VP for institutional advancement.
“Whether you've lived here for 25 years or 25 minutes, one of the challenges that SCO deals with is we believe we're one of the best-kept secrets in Memphis,” Miller told MBJ.
'A little bit of Memphis with them'
According to a recent study, SCO has an economic impact of about $108 million and contributes over 800 jobs to the Memphis region. Including areas outside of Memphis, the college has an estimated overall economic impact of $179 million.
The economic impact on Shelby County tops $66.6 million and 541 jobs, per the study, including an impact of $32.4 million and nearly 300 jobs in Downtown and Midtown Memphis.
“We know we're a big value-add to Memphis," Miller said. "It's just a matter of getting people to know more about what we do here."
David H. Ciscel, Ph.D., professor emeritus of economics at the University of Memphis, and D.C. Sharp, Ph.D., managing director at economics consulting firm Econ One Research Inc., put together SCO’s first economic impact report in 10 years.
The overall annual impact was divided into three sections: enterprise, students, and service.
The enterprise portion of the report looks at the college’s capital and operating expenses. In total, those have an impact of $74 million and create nearly 600 jobs. According to the report, virtually all of SCO's enterprise impact occurs in the regional Memphis economy.
The economic impact of SCO students includes expenditures and graduate earnings, producing a total regional impact of $28.6 million and 250 jobs.
Though the college typically accepts 130 students a year, SCO's fall 2024 entering class had a record 140 students. That represents one of the largest first-year optometry classes in the country. SCO's students come from 45 states, and 12 students are from Canada.
Regionally, the economic impact of the college is shown to have a significant effect in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi.
“We like that we recruit nationally, but we also like that those students, when they graduate from SCO, go back into their communities and have a little bit of Memphis with them,” Miller said.
Impact of Southern College of Optometry's facilities and services
Miller said that SCO plans to expand and modernize its facilities soon, by adding a building focused on student spaces, with a library, café, study area, and labs. He hopes the first phase of fundraising for the new building will be completed in 12 to 24 months.
Optometry services from fourth-year students doing their clinical rotation are offered at The Eye Center at 1245 Madison Ave. and at FocalPoint at Crosstown Concourse and are a key component for their education and for patients. SCO also performs vision screenings at schools and sees patients referred from other health providers, as well as providing on-campus eye care at the University of Memphis.
SCO's services are estimated to have a total value of $35.6 million, of which $5.6 million is provided in Shelby County.
“When students are making decisions on where they want to go to school and tour SCO, they see our clinics and understand the type of care that they'll be able to be involved in here," Miller said. "That's a selling point for us."
Sign up for the Business Journal’s free morning and afternoon daily newsletters to receive the latest business news impacting the Memphis metro area. Download the free Memphis Business Journal app for breaking news alerts on your phone.