Discretionary spending by college students is the focus of a major feature story in the Farmville Herald

Discretionary spending by college students is the focus of a major feature story in the Sept. 17 edition of the Farmville Herald.  The front page story, "Merchants Missing Out on Millions," was written by Editor Ken Woodley.  

According to Bill Baxter, director of Longwood's College of Business and Economics Internship Program, students from Longwood and Hampden-Sydney College have a combined discretionary buying power of $19 million for the nine-month academic year.  Baxter states that Farmville and Prince Edward County are "not maximizing the capture" of student buying power, nor that of their parents, who should be added to the equation.  That also means local governments are not fully capitalizing on the sales tax revenue potential of those millions of dollars of discretionary spending power.