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Economic Impact Statement

Montserrat College of Art is a proud contributor to the creative economy of the North Shore and, more specifically, the City of Beverly. The College considers the needs of the community in its policies and practices, including a “Buy Beverly First” policy for the majority of its purchases. For 46 years, Montserrat has been in Beverly and of Beverly.

The Numbers
Montserrat’s fall 2017 undergraduate enrollment is approximately 360 students. A faculty and administration of approximately 100 people, both part-time and full-time, serve these students. The budget for the college this academic year is just over $10million. Using a standard multiplier of 2.5, the College has an economic impact of more than $25 million.

Approximately 96% of the college’s students and 57% of its faculty and administration reside on the North Shore. In addition, 85% of the college’s 250 Continuing Education students also reside in North Shore communities. The approximate combined economic impact of the faculty, administration, visitors and continuing education students is an additional half million dollars.

Real Estate
The college owns or leases 19 buildings, 13 of which are student residences. Within the college-provided residences there are 47 apartments accommodating approximately 277 students or about 77% of Montserrat’s undergraduate student population.

Of the remaining undergraduate students, approximately half live in rental apartments in Beverly and the remaining half rent apartments in other neighboring communities or commute from home to the college.

In addition to student residences, Montserrat owns three buildings used for offices, classrooms and studios. The largest are the Hardie Building at 23 Essex St., which also includes the Montserrat Gallery, and our rented large academic space at 248 Cabot St.

The college paid mark than$680,000 last year in rent and real estate taxes to Beverly landlords and the city.

Buy Beverly First
From accounts payable records, Montserrat spent approximately $1.5 million with local Beverly businesses last fiscal year and an additional $500,000 at North Shore businesses beyond Beverly.

Student Financial Aid
Like students at most colleges and universities, Montserrat students are supported by financial aid to help to pay for their educational expenses. At Montserrat, approximately 98% of our students receive some form of grant or financial assistance. This year, Montserrat will directly provide more than $4.5 million to its students in institutional grants and aid, and will pay students more than $150,000 for jobs they work on campus.

Alumni
Of the more than 2,000 alumni who have attended or graduated from the college more than 500 have chosen to remain on the North Shore and more than 1,000 reside in work in Massachusetts, contributing to our growing creative economy.

Institutional Donations
Montserrat supports the community in a variety of ways including:

  • As part of our PILOT agreement with the city, contributing $15,000 annually toward the upkeep of the Beverly Common.
  • Offering scholarships each year for qualified Beverly residents to attend the college if they are accepted through the regular admissions process. This year, Montserrat awarded $80,380 year in aid to Beverly students enrolled through this special scholarship.
  • Sending Montserrat faculty into the AP classes at Beverly High School each year to assist the high school art teachers to expand their offerings to the high school art students.
  • Providing interns through our required junior-year internship program to area businesses. (Since 2006, the college has provided more than 500  interns to businesses as varied as science text book publishers, filmmakers, Disney, Hasbro, Nickelodeon, design firms , local entrepreneurs, to individual artists looking for apprentices.)
  • Donating tuition vouchers to Continuing Education programs to local non-profits and community groups to use in their fundraising and to enrich the cultural offerings of the city.
  • Taking over the lead partnership of the Creative Economy Association of the North Shore to assist the City and region to increase and recognize job opportunities in creative fields.
  • Offering nearly 50 free public lectures and opportunities to interact with international, national and regional contemporary artists during public programming on and off-campus.
  • Partnering with other non-profit organizations such as the North Shore YMCA, Express Yourself and Beverly Bootstraps and others.
  • Montserrat staff/faculty and students volunteering in many capacities in the City including Beverly Rotary, Beverly Main Streets, the Beverly Cultural Council, Beverly Arts Fest Committee, Beverly’s New Year’s Committee, Beverly Bootstraps and others.