Marisa J. Kelly, president of Suffolk University (MA) and board chair of the Association of Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, and Rob McCarron, president and CEO of AICUM, write:  More than almost any other state in the country, our economy, quality of life, and international reputation are inextricably connected to our colleges and universities. Now, an exhaustive independent study of the economic impact of the 59 private colleges and universities that comprise the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts has quantified just how much these non-profit institutions contribute to our state as a whole, and in the regions surrounding Boston, Worcester, and Springfield.