USC has dropped $300,000 on a new welcome center on King Street in Charleston that's dedicated to bringing USC to the Lowcountry. The idea is to help raise awareness for our university in a prime tourist location, get USC's name out there and offer some services to students in Charleston. The idea is essentially to advertise our school. 
Sure, there's a chance this welcome center could draw in new visitors. Sure, there's a chance it will get our name out there to those who visit from out of state and don't already know about our school. And sure, there's a chance these visitors might be interested enough to come to Columbia and see our school. But the chances are slim, and let's be honest: Why would tourists in Charleston, with the intention of going to the beach in a beautiful city, bother visiting the welcome center of a school they didn't already know about? And when USC already receives so many applicants each year, making our student population endlessly rise to new highs, attracting more students shouldn't be too high on our priority list.
We're not saying this project can't benefit USC. We're just saying that in this case the benefit is simply not worth the cost. When there are so many things around our campus that need urgent attention and funding, blowing $300,000 on a large advertisement on King Street is wasteful and unnecessary. Even the administration openly admitted that the center wouldn't be profitable.
USC would do well to better allocate its funds in the future. What it really needs to spend $300,000 on is our campus here in Columbia, not a store two hours away.