Over the past few weeks, almost 20,000 students have descended upon Ithaca, moving into new dorm rooms and apartments, making multiple trips to Target and lugging textbooks from the bookstore. For the most part, we have been greeted by local residents warmly: a bright smile from the clerk at the registrar or a friendly “welcome back” from our favorite barista at CTB. But not all Ithaca residents are as warm or welcoming.

In last year’s “Best of Ithaca” survey by the Ithaca Times, respondents were asked to name the “best thing that should happen to Ithaca.” The second response listed was “get rid of half the college students.”

The fellow who wrote this was rather generous compared to other locals; he only suggested ridding Ithaca of half of its college students, rather than the entire bunch. But his attitude toward the thousands of students in Ithaca is shared by a large percentage of residents. It is not uncommon to be disregarded at a restaurant because of your Cornell sweatshirt, or to hear an unhappy grumble about your IC shorts in the aisles of Wegmans.

Sure, the crowds of students rolling through the streets are annoying and frat guys can often be nothing short of obnoxious. Still, much of this disdain likely stems from Cornell’s tax exempt status — about 70 percent of Ithaca property is tax exempt, approximately 97 percent of which is owned by Cornell. In fact, The Sun reported in 2007 that the town would bring in an estimated $30 million a year were the University to start paying property taxes.

However, what complaining residents fail to recognize is that Cornell’s tax exempt status is what keeps it in Ithaca, and thus what keeps its students in Ithaca. And let’s be honest here: without the universities, Ithaca would be just another upstate town that long since outlived its heyday, filled with un- or under-employed residents and a rather nice lake.

Reality is, according to a 2008 report regarding Cornell’s economic impact, the University employs over 13,000 people in New York State, 12,461 of them in Ithaca, not including students. Those employees are paid salaries well over the local average, with a mean of over $41,000 compared to a local average of $36,000 in 2005.

Additionally, Cornell spent $98.9 million in Tompkins County alone on goods and services in 2005, generating what they estimate to be 800 jobs, and spent just under $100 million on construction, creating another 835 jobs in Tompkins County. Then there is, of course, the fact that Cornell is a one-third funding partner of TCAT and TCAT’s largest client, enabling many locals to travel around Tompkins County on public transportation subsidized by the University.

Beyond the institution, students, the very object of so many residents’ disdain, do their part to contribute as well. Students spent about $107 million off campus in 2008, indirectly creating about 1,400 jobs in Tompkins County, as estimated by the University. Visitors such as parents and prospective students spent another $47 million and created an estimated 778 jobs.

Altogether, in Tompkins County, Cornell students and their visitors generate quite a bit of revenue for the county from sales tax alone. This money goes to support social programs, schools and infrastructure — much of which we, as students and temporary residents, don’t stand to benefit from at all. Such is the nature of taxes, and we as students duly cooperate, complaining only when the potholes get so big we can’t even navigate an SUV over them (and even then, barely raising a peep).

While the economic impact report gives a colorful picture, it fails to mention the numerous businesses that students bring to the community in the first place. I find it hard to believe that Ithaca would maintain a Wegmans without the student population, or that the Regal Cinemas in the Ithaca Mall would have undergone such a massive renovation a few years ago without projected (and past) revenues from local college students. And honestly, Ithaca airport wouldn’t stand a chance without the business that the University and its students send to it.

And yet, in return for all this, what do we get? We get a complaint on a silly Ithaca Journal poll wishing we would leave. We are often disregarded when we are victims of theft or vandalism, because the police are too busy apprehending harmless students for open container violations and responding to (fictitious) noise complaints. We get snubbed at a local restaurant, or our toes run over by a begrudged local wielding a heavy shopping cart at Wegmans. We get a moratorium on Collegetown building, virtually ensuring that our rents remain high and our landlords remain slumlords, and then we get blamed for the fact that Collegetown is often unsightly. Our lone political representatives get written off as attention seekers simply looking to pad their resumes.

I don’t mean to say that all of Ithaca is hostile to its student population. Indeed, some residents do appreciate Ithaca’s universities and their attendants — most professors, no doubt, relish the amount of students in Ithaca, as do many local business owners and, of course, our overcharging landlords. But policies passed by Ithaca and harsh penalties for petty things such as noise violations overshadow the more congenial Ithaca residents, leaving students with a bitter taste in our mouths and a sense that we are less than welcome.

Cornell, its students and our collective wallets, are what make Ithaca a pleasant place to live. It’s time that students were shown a bit more appreciation, and a bit less hostility. So next time you’re in line at Target behind a disgruntled woman who complains about the long lines and throngs of students, politely ask her what she does for a living or where her children go to school. And then wait for the inevitable chance to say, “You’re welcome.”