DatelineCarolinaCaught between angry students and legislators, USC rethinks tuition increases

Caught between angry students and legislators, USC rethinks tuition increases

By Josh Dawsey, Ryan Quinn,
Jenna Kepley and Frankie Mansfield
Edited by David Purtell

As the University of South Carolina's in-state undergraduate tuition has moved past $10,000 a year – second highest in the Southeastern Conference behind Vanderbilt – USC officials find themselves boxed in.

"This is a trend that cannot continue, and we know that," said Ed Walton, USC's chief financial officer. "You run the risk of pricing yourself out of the public's willingness to pay."

State funding has dropped sharply while legislators try to close billion-dollar budget gaps at the same time the university has been trying to achieve status as one of the nation's top research schools. That takes money – $1.2 billion worth this year.

As a result, USC Columbia's in-state tuition has risen more than 20 percent in the past four years to $10,168, including a 3.9 percent increase this year after a 6.9 percent rise last year.

But some of S.C.'s colleges and universities proposed double-digit increases last year, topped by the College of Charleston's 14.8 percent, and that got politicians' attention.

So the State Budget and Control Board, whose members include the heads of the budget writing committees in the House and Senate, blocked new construction by any four-year university that raised tuition by more than 7 percent.

Several schools with higher increases rolled them back.

Now, USC President Harris Pastides says, any further increases will be avoided at "at all costs."

USC officials blame legislators for much of the problem. State appropriations have dropped by almost half – or more than $100 million – in recent years. USC now gets about 10 percent of its funding from the state, down from 23 percent in fiscal 2008.

"We have prepared documents to show folks that we really aren't a state-supported school," Provost Michael Amiridis said. "We aren't going to cut the quality of education offered here, and sometimes that means we have to find money for the programs we need."

The student-faculty ratio at the 30,000-student Columbia campus is 19-to-1, among the highest in the SEC. A decade ago, the ratio was 14-to-1.

Larger classes mean less personal learning and individual research, both considered hallmarks of a top tier research institution, Pastides said.

The university plans to fill 200 new tenured-track faculty positions in the next four years, paid for with money from more students and higher tuition. The school also needs "significant added investment" in buildings and other infrastructure, Amiridis said.

USC's Critics

Skepticism at the State House about USC's administration has risen with the inability of its Innovista research district to attract private investment and the decision last year to give $2.7 million in raises to 146 employees already making at least $100,000 annually. At the same time, USC froze hiring, laid off employees and requested more state money.

After revelations the school spent tens of millions on a biomass energy plant that does not work properly, state Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, a member of the Finance Committee, wrote in a newspaper column: "The giant sucking sound that you hear is the siphon running from your wallet into the tank at USC. You might want to let your politicians know that enough is enough."

Many of the residence halls on campus are now "like a Hilton," said state Treasurer Curtis Loftis, a vocal critic. But university officials have said new facilities are needed to keep attracting top-quality students.

"Higher education in this state must remain affordable for students, and we cannot ask parents to continue lifting a heavy burden," Loftis said during a recent appearance on campus.

Some USC students are also upset. Haley Carpenter, a first-year international business student from North Carolina who pays in-state tuition as part of her scholarships, said she still has trouble paying fees and thinks there should be more financial aid.

Bianca Young, a third-year marketing and management student from Georgia who also pays in-state tuition, had numerous complaints.

"I don't know why we're still funding a new business building when Darla Moore and all those people already donated," Young said. "And I think we should stop accepting all these freshmen because I don't think USC is competitive anymore, it just wants our money."

Not Just South Carolina

Other SEC schools have increased tuition and enrollment, but not as much as USC. For example, the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, about the same size as USC, raised in-state tuition $532 this year, or 8 percent, to $8,396.

State money fell to 35 percent of the budget, from 41 percent in 2009, UT spokeswoman Amy Blakely said.

The University of Florida, with 50,000 students, has lost $200 million, or about a quarter of its state funding since fiscal 2008. The university, which charges in-state undergrads $5,700 a year, has increased its tuition by 15 percent every year since 2009 when lawmakers imposed that limit, spokesman Steve Orlando said.

South Carolina's public universities have all increased enrollment and in-state undergraduate tuition in the past five years, according to the state Higher Education Commission:

• Clemson, at $12,668, is up more than $3,000 since 2006.

• The College of Charleston is up over $2,000 in the past five years to $9,616. Last year, the school rolled back its 14.8 percent increase for the spring semester after the state's building moratorium.

• Winthrop University, at $12,656, is up more than $3,000 since 2006.

Clemson spokesman John Gouch blames nearly $80 million in cuts from that school's state funding. "It's too early to say whether tuition will change next year, but Clemson's strategy is to continue to manage the budget to protect academic quality," he wrote in an email.

Clemson has cut 450 positions, slashed budgets and outsourced services, he said.

The College of Charleston did not raise tuition this year for in-state undergrads, though it did raise graduate student tuition. The school is limited to its current 11,650 students because it has little room to expand in the historic downtown, said Steve Osborne, vice president of finance.

"We've sort of had to move toward a model of self-reliance" by making substantial cuts, he said. Any tuition increase next year would likely be below 5 percent, Osborne said.

S.C. schools have magnified their tuition revenue by adding from several hundred to several thousand students since 2006. USC Columbia, for instance, added 2,209.

Clemson added 2,144; USC Upstate, 884; Coastal Carolina 657; and USC Beaufort 386.

Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, institutions across the country moving toward self-reliance. In addition to increasing tuition and enrollment, many are seeking more alumni donations, the education professor said.

USC's $1 billion Carolina Promise campaign, for instance, has more than half that already committed from donors, and the university has had record donations the past four years despite the poor economy.

Many institutions are using more adjuncts and graduate students to teach, raising questions of quality, Welner said. But, he said, "Higher education is being asked to be more entrepreneurial in finding ways to make money, and that's not cost-free."