A study released last week confirmed what just about everyone in Lawrence County already knew: Ohio University Southern and the other regional campuses have a huge economic impact on the state and the communities of which they are a part.

The data showed that OU’s five regional campuses and two centers employ more than 1,600 people, educate more than 10,000 students and injected nearly $174 million into Ohio. As a whole, the university system has an economic impact measuring more than $1.5 billion.

In many cases, numbers do not tell the entire story but this seems to be a situation where they certainly tell a compelling one.

Other data from the study included the fact that OUS campuses expect to have 39,000 students on campus this semester, proof that higher education is more accessible than ever before. Another positive is that students attending the regional campuses are getting a quality education for roughly half the cost of tuition in Athens.

Virtually no one living in Ironton, Lawrence County or even Tri-State need to be convinced that Ohio University Southern is an integral part of the community, but it is nice to have hard facts to back that up and show people from the beyond the region yet another of the many great reasons to call this region home.