Higher education institutions--as major employers of the workforce, purchasers of goods and services, managers of real estate, and attractors of external investment--are frequently the subject of research measuring economic impact. This research often falls into one of two categories: (1) institution-focused studies that measure the monetary contributions to a city or community; or (2) sector- or state-focused studies that measure the production of knowledge and its effects on a regional or national economy. As separate parts of a bigger picture, what is impossible to glean from these analyses is how higher education broadly contributes to the two primary methods of economic growth: attracting new resources and improving the productivity of existing resources. This brief explores how higher education fuels the regional economy through attracting, developing and retaining its most critical resource: human capital, or, put simply, people.