College is many things to many people. It may be the next logical step after high school. It may be a career change. What we often focus on is the financial weight of it. College comes with an increasingly high price tag that can mean years, if not decades, of student loan debt.

But there is something else to consider: the return on that investment. Not for the students. For the state.

Pennsylvania is noted for its place on the high end of tuition costs. The Education Data Initiative puts the state at third highest in-state public tuition, tied with New Jersey, behind only Vermont and New Hampshire. That doesn’t take into consideration all of Pennsylvania’s private colleges where the cost dwarfs that of state schools.

But those colleges are valuable for something beyond educating students. They are an important part of the state’s economy.

Universities can dominate our cities. Colleges are salted across the landscape in small towns. They are inextricably knitted into the economy of our communities, our regions and the state overall.

They are an economic engine that does not just run on tuition dollars. They are employers. They are business partners. They are event destinations and tourism generators. They are hospitality hubs.

And that doesn’t even take into consideration the pieces we might not see — the research that generates patents, creates products and births startups.

That is why efforts to make higher education more accessible matter beyond the students receiving financial aid.

This week, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis joined officials from the University of Pittsburgh and Westmore­land County at Pitt-Greensburg to discuss the university’s Regional Campus Tuition Pledge. The program makes tuition free at Pitt’s Greensburg, Johnstown and Bradford campuses — as well as the nursing program at Titusville — for Pennsylvania residents from households earning $75,000 or less.

On the surface, the initiative is about affordability. Pennsylvania ranks among the most expensive states for higher education, and student debt can shape decisions about whether to attend college, what to study and where to build a career.

But the initiative is about something bigger than one student’s ability to pay tuition or one demographic’s access to degrees.

Every additional teacher, nurse, engineer or business graduate represents another person prepared to enter the workforce. Every student who chooses a regional campus brings spending into the surrounding community. Every graduate who remains in Pennsylvania helps strengthen the state’s economy.

“We think the ability to attend Pitt for many families without paying tuition would make increased interest in these programs and strengthen Pennsylvania’s leadership role in key areas of workforce development,” Pitt-Johnstown President Jem Spectar said.

It is hard to see a downside to the idea. Students get an education. Parents get relief. Communities keep the motors running in their vital campuses. It keeps the central core of the university in Pittsburgh healthy, and successful graduates are both the best advertisement for a college and its richest donor pool.

And Pennsylvania keeps an economic power source that is less steam engine and more nuclear plant.