Arizona’s three public universities — ASU, UA and NAU — currently have nearly 105,000 undergraduate students and more than 36,000 people work at the schools — either full-time or part-time.

Even with state funding being cut dramatically, primarily during the Great Recession, the footprint of the universities — via students, research and other factors — is unquestionably large.

But for the first time, the Arizona Board of Regents commissioned a report to specifically flesh out the economic impact of the universities.

The Show spoke with ABOR Chair Ron Shoopman about it and asked him why such a report was important at this stage.

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