Over the past couple of weeks, the University of Colorado’s four campuses have been sending our latest graduates into the world. Commencement is the best time of year at our university. I have attended more than 60 ceremonies since becoming president, and I never tire of the experience.

It’s great to see the sense of accomplishment on graduates’ faces as they receive diplomas, and it’s also wonderful to watch families and friends beam with pride. The scene is the same whether the CU campus is in Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver or the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.

Overlooked in the pomp and circumstance is the question of who benefits the most from higher education. Certainly, a college degree improves the prospects of those who earn one. College graduates make well over a million dollars more in their wage-earning lives than those without a degree. They have more opportunities professionally, are healthier and generally happier. They contribute to civic life and communities at greater rates than those without a degree.

Yet people don’t always consider another important beneficiary of higher education – the state of Colorado.

Higher education is an individual gain but also a collective good, one that serves our state exceedingly well. The majority of the more than 15,000 students who receive degrees from our four campuses this year remain here to provide the highly skilled workforce that makes our state competitive and attracts businesses and industry. They fill positions in some of Colorado’s most important economic sectors – technology, energy, health care, aerospace, tourism, government and more.

Our university is a critical driver of our state’s economy, with an estimated $7 billion annual impact. Our alumni build businesses and create jobs. Research developed in CU laboratories has led to more than 150 private-sector companies in the past 20 years. Hundreds of biosciences innovations developed at our campuses have spurred growth in the booming health care and medical sectors. Discoveries from research not only fuel the economy, but also improve lives.

CU has partnered on about 75 space missions, making it integral to Colorado’s aerospace economy, the nation’s second largest. Our Boulder campus receives more NASA funding than any public university. That funding has substantial ripple effects in the economy. For example, our MAVEN mission that is orbiting Mars brought $671 million to our state and bolstered our partnerships with Colorado-based Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance, among others.

UCCS is taking a lead role in a major cybersecurity initiative that received $8 million in initial funding in the recently passed state budget. It will have a major impact on the community, our state and nation.

Additionally, we make a difference in the lives of people and communities throughout our state. We have nearly 300 outreach programs in towns and cities large and small, in every corner or Colorado. They range from water quality (CU-Boulder) to an ethics education initiative (UCCS) to helping military veterans transition from college to careers (CU Denver) to cancer-care physicians who treat patients in rural communities (CU Anschutz Medical Campus).

The state gets an incredible return on its investment in higher education. Just over 5 percent of CU’s $3.55 billion annual budget comes from state funding. And while we are grateful for the increase to our budget that came in this year’s legislative session, Colorado still ranks 48th nationally in state support for higher education. This has led us on a relentless drive over the past eight years to find efficiencies that have helped us cut red tape, institute better business practices and realize savings. Last year alone, we generated about $40 million in efficiency savings. Some of that is realized through legislative changes that let us operate more efficiently. We also seek to bolster revenue streams in philanthropy and research.

It’s no coincidence that our state and CU were founded in the same year, 1876. Our forebears recognized the critical contributions higher education would make to the burgeoning state. We’re still contributing, and so are our graduates.

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Bruce D. Benson is president of the University of Colorado.