USC may enjoy some of the greatest fan support in the SEC, but state support is another matter.
Of the conference's 13 public universities, nine have made their 2016-17 operating budgets publicly available online as of July 5. Of those nine, South Carolina ranked eighth in the percentage of university revenue funded by state fund appropriations in the last academic year.
At 10.5 percent of university revenue, the USC system's state funding outpaced only the University of Kentucky, which received 7.6 percent of its revenue from state government in 2016-17. The University of Georgia ranked first with 30.5 percent.
At 10.9 percent, Clemson University's percentage of revenue from state appropriations closely rivaled that of USC in 2016-17.
The problem of state funding presents issues of affordability even as enrollment grows. As the university continues to expand, the financial burden falls more and more on the student body.
Under the 2017-18 operating budget, USC undergraduates will pay 3.64 percent more to attend classes this fall. With state appropriations down more than half over the past decade, tuition and fees now comprise a portion of university revenue quickly approaching 50 percent.
Meanwhile, the university's main legislative priority of 2017, the approval of $50 million in state funding for an overhaul of the School of Medicine, failed. Construction of new residence halls to replace facilities constructed in the 1970s is set to begin within the next few years. All of which is made even more difficult by the fact that a General Assembly gridlocked through early May by a gas tax bill will fund an even slighter 10.4 percent of USC's revenue in the coming academic year.
"We have consistently made the case to the General Assembly that this needs to change," said USC associate director of public relations Jeff Stensland. "Additional state investment in higher education would help keep college affordable for students and families, and allow us to do even more in terms of growing the state’s economy. Every $1 invested in higher education returns $25 to the state, and we know that college graduates have lower unemployment rates and earn about $18,000 more than non-graduates."