A national study that ranked Okaloosa County as one of the top college towns in the nation was incorrect.
Officials at the American Institute for Economic Research discovered this week that the score for entrepreneurial activity was incorrect and had artificially improved the area’s ranking to fourth instead of 30th as it should have been.
“Frankly, I have no idea how we didn’t catch it,” said Stephen Adams, president of the institute. “This was an honest mistake, but it shouldn’t have come through.”
A copy-and-paste error caused that particular score to be listed as 543.3 instead of the -12.5 it actually was, he said.
To calculate the rankings, economists combined scores in different categories. Adams said they are still going through all the data again, but haven’t discovered any other errors.
The Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin metropolitan area — essentially Okaloosa County — was combined into one “college town.” The study considers metropolitan areas, not cities and towns, per say, Adams said.
Any area with 18,000 or more college students was included in the study, he said.
Northwest Florida State College President Ty Handy said he wasn’t surprised when he learned the initial ranking was wrong.
After hearing about it the first time, Handy said he looked at the other top-ranked college towns and discovered they had schools with residential campuses.
Handy said he was certain the area’s arts and leisure ranking of eighth was fair, and that he still is proud of his college’s role in the community.
“I’m not disappointed,” Handy said. “It doesn’t make this any less of a great place to live.”
Adams shared Handy’s view. He acknowledged the announcement would be difficult for the community, but vowed to avoid mistakes in the future.
“We’re going to fix this so it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.