As part of the Opinion section's Sounding Board series, in which a columnist is sent out on campus to talk to USC students and find out what they have to say about current hot-button issues, we interviewed ten students about their views on school funding, tuition, and fees.
The 10 students interviewed were Logan Still, a first-year public health student; a fourth-year integrated information technology student who wished to remain anonymous for her privacy; Kyra Heyden, a first-year biology student; Mason Stelfox, a first-year finance student; Emily, a third-year English student who wanted her last name to remain anonymous; Kaitlin McGuire, a first-year student whose major is undeclared; Jordi Ariño, a fourth-year international student studying business; Elizabeth Marcadis, a second-year visual communications student; William Dial, a fourth-year theater student; and Natalie, a first-year nursing student who wanted her last name to be anonymous. Their views have been presented below unedited.
Why did you choose to come to USC?
LOGAN: I live in South Carolina. Well, I used to live in South Carolina and we’ve always been huge Carolina fans, so my family really wanted me to go here, and I really wanted to go here.
IIT STUDENT: I like the campus. The library is what really brought my attention. It's a 24-7 library. I've never seen a library like this. I've never seen that. I've toured a lot of different colleges, and this was the only one that had a 24-7 library. That's really what made me say yes to USC.
KYRA: I really like the atmosphere around here. I’m from up north, so it’s really cold and I really liked how nice it was. It’s a beautiful campus, and people were just really kind to me the first time I was walking around.
MASON: It’s a nice mix between a Southern school and a Northern school. Great football, great weather and a really nice campus.
EMILY: Out of all the schools I applied to, it had the best English department.
KAITLIN: Well, my sister actually goes here and she’s a junior, so I came and visited her a lot, and I really like the atmosphere of the campus — and I thought it would be nice to go to school with her because we’re pretty close.
JORDI: I'm an exchange student. I study in Mexico, and I always wanted to go to an exchange program. A lot of my teachers told me that USC was one of the best schools of business, so that's why I'm here. I wanted to study international business.
ELIZABETH: I get in-state tuition for my major.
WILLIAM: Well, my dad went here, and his dad went here, so at this point it's kind of family tradition.
NATALIE: Honestly, I guess it was between this and another school and the other school was close to my area, and I didn't want to go close to home.
What program at USC could use extra money the most?
LOGAN: I’m not sure. Maybe the food? 'Cause when I was on the meal plan here, it wasn’t the best.
IIT STUDENT: It would be definitely my major. Integrated information technology ... We are lacking updated computers in our engineering building, and for our major to be integrated information technology, we should have the top notch.
KYRA: Well, I’m in the Capstone program and I definitely think that they could use some extra money. They have a lot of really great trips but, unfortunately, they’re really expensive, so, if they could find a way to get more scholarships or something to that, I think that would be really cool.
MASON: Maybe housing, 'cause they don’t have enough room for newly admitted students and I got put in Aspyre, because they over-admitted freshmen. So maybe they could put more into that.
EMILY: I haven't been here very long. It's been a semester — well, it's been this semester. But I guess I would say more writing teachers, more writing classes. There's not as wide of a selection as I'd like.
KAITLIN: I don’t know if this counts as a program, but our parking situation is a little bit of a hassle. I know that a lot of people have to park really far from where they live and it’s really expensive, even though it’s not always the most convenient.
JORDI: I never thought about that. Maybe the dorms? Some dorms are kind of old, maybe they can be — maybe they can put money in there.
ELIZABETH: Oh my gosh, I really don't know ... Maybe disability services? I feel like, I don't know, I don't really know how accessible it is for everyone. Especially in [Russell House], how do they get up there without going all the way around outside and going up that ramp, or I guess there's the elevator ... you don't really see or hear much about that kind of stuff, so maybe that.
WILLIAM: I'd have to give it to the theater department, which is slightly selfish because I'm a theatre major, but we are horrifically underfunded right now. All of — well, not all of — most of our equipment is falling apart, lighting instruments are in disrepair, it's just a really bad state of things right now.
NATALIE: Maybe the dorm area ... I guess not building new ones, but making the ones we have nicer.
If you wanted to save USC some money, what area would you cut in first?
LOGAN: I don’t really know. I did hear somewhere that, I think, sometime they took some students out to eat at a really nice restaurant, and maybe stop doing that. It was the, not honors, maybe the, what’s another one? Capstone, yeah, something like that maybe, I can’t remember.
IIT STUDENT: That's a hard question. Oh, the athletics. There's so many — it's so much funding for them, the athletics.
KYRA: I really don’t know anything about what, where the money goes, so, I couldn’t say.
MASON: I have no clue.
EMILY: I don't know. I don't want to say the football team, but I don't — you know, the amount of money they put into that — but I really don't know.
KAITLIN: I don’t really know how much money we spend on the different programs, so I’m not sure if I can answer that in a good way.
JORDI: I don't know. I'm new.
ELIZABETH: Athletics, definitely. We spend so much on that. It's unnecessary. Parking? I don't understand why that's so expensive ... It's like one of those things where you would need to see statistics laid out in front of you, but for the most part I feel like parking is ridiculous ... A parking pass is $800 a year, okay, I don't understand that.
WILLIAM: That's a really good question, and not having all the information and not being privy to all the information, I can't really say ... I just don't really have an answer for that one.
NATALIE: Probably just because I know they get a lot of money, the athletics. I know that, I mean it's big, obviously, but I feel like they probably need it the least.
Construction of the new student union building will use student fees for funding. Is a new building worth the cost? Why or why not?
LOGAN: Yeah, I think it'd be beneficial to have it.
IIT STUDENT: So there's going to be a new student union? That is perfect. Yes, yes. Yes, I think that's a wonderful idea ... [The Coliseum] is just sitting there, and it needs to be used for something.
KYRA: Not really? Because I feel like we have a pretty good setup right now. I definitely think that there’s other places that it could go to first. But that’s just my opinion.
MASON: That seems like a horrible idea, horrible use of the money. Seems like we have a ton of space that we don’t utilize.
EMILY: I would say not. I mean, with the amount we're already charged to go here and the way they overprice literally everything, I think they're probably getting enough money out of us as it is, but that's just my opinion.
KAITLIN: I don’t really know what they would be adding to it, so I don’t feel like we need a new student union, because, I mean, Russell's pretty nice, I feel like. So I don’t think that’s really worth it.
JORDI: I think it's okay.
ELIZABETH: Considering the students who are being charged won't get to use it, I think that's a little unfair. I think they should just re-appropriate funds to that, like cut funding somewhere else and put it towards that. Because why should I have to pay for something that I can't even use? Or alumni, donors, sponsors — I don't know, figure something out with that. But we already pay an ungodly amount to come to college and we shouldn't have to pay for something like that.
WILLIAM: I think it certainly could be. I mean my hometown, Anderson, their university, Anderson University, just put up a brand new student center, and it's like three times the size of the Russell House. And it's a little absurd, I think, that they have that and we're kind of stuck with this. Plus, Russell House is mostly a place to eat. There's not a whole lot of student stuff that goes on here, most of it happens outside of the Russell House, and I feel like with a new student center we could really bring all that together.
NATALIE: I think so. I mean, I don't know, I guess the school is expanding ... I don't know. We already pay a lot of money. Maybe they could just update Russell — they're already doing it though. I don't know. I just get annoyed that they're taking more money out to build something else. I just don't know where the tuition money goes.
Do you know how to check your account to see how much you're paying, and where the money goes? If so, do you think it's a fair amount?
LOGAN: Yeah, I do. The only thing that I’ve had an issue with is that they’re building the new parking garage in Greek Village and we have to pay for it, which, I’m probably not even going to be able to use it and the older girls probably aren’t going to be able to use it, so that’s kind of annoying. But, that’s the only thing I’ve had an issue with.
IIT STUDENT: I do, yes. I do ... No ... My father is paying out of pocket for me to go here, and I feel like every semester it's going up.
KYRA: I know how to check how much money I’m spending, but not where it goes to.
MASON: I know how to check how much I’m paying, but not where my money goes.
EMILY: I don't. I don't know how to do that, no. I mean can see how much they're charging me, I can pay my bills, but beyond that, no.
KAITLIN: I know how to check how much I’m paying, but I’m not sure where to check where the student fees are going to.
JORDI: Yeah, I know where to check ... Some fees are expensive, but I know this a very huge university ... it's worth it.
ELIZABETH: For the most part. But some of it is very ambiguous, I guess. Like lab fees, and technology fees. What exactly is that going towards? Because that's a little confusing. And I think if people were more educated on where their money went, they might feel a little bit more comfortable with their money being used for certain things. But since we don't know, it feels like they're just sucking money off me left and right, anywhere they can get it. It's just like that kind of stuff.
WILLIAM: You mean like, the account detail by term? Yeah, yeah, I think so, yeah. Fair enough.
NATALIE: I do know how to do that ... I know college is expensive, but I just don't know where all of it goes. I know the professors are making the money and I guess it goes to the administrators, but what are they really doing? And it says when it lays out the tuition, too, it'll say "tuition: $22,000," and then whatever you're paying, and then it has extra fees and that, it specifically says where it's going. But I would like to know where the actual tuition money goes, like if that could be more descriptive.