Proposal focuses on new programs, building needs
USC requested nearly $41 million in funding from the state legislature Wednesday to pay for a pair of new initiatives and to fix some lingering problems in the statewide system.
USC President Harris Pastides asked a House Ways and Means subcommittee to fund the university’s summer semester program,the backbone to the “on your time graduation” initiative, and to increase funding for the online Palmetto College, saying those programs represented a push for accessibility in the state.
Pastides said the university needs $5 million to implement the 12-week summer semester because few faculty and staff members currently work over the summer and the school doesn’t keep dorms open. Gov. Nikki Haley’s executive budget proposes a state appropriation of just $1.25 million for the program.
Tuition will be lower during the summer session, Pastides said, because students will receive fewer amenities on campus.
But the key to the program’s success may be in enticing students to enroll over the summer by allowing them to use financial aid, Provost Michael Amiridis said, so the university asked the subcommittee to consider changing how lottery scholarships are used.
The proposal: Instead of giving students scholarships for four years, grant them awards by credit hour.
Under that proposal, Pastides said, a student who didn’t have time for a full course load could bide his or her time, while another could power through a degree program more quickly.
USC also asked for a $2.12 million appropriation to make Palmetto College permanent, which would boost its annual state funding to $5 million, a move backed by Haley’s proposal. Last year, the university received that money as a one-time support to get the program off the ground.
Pastides said the increase is necessary to grow the program’s degree offerings and keep its courses fresh.
“If we had to build the whole program on the backs of tuition, the tuition would get closer to what’s being charged in the for-profit industry,” Pastides said.
The request also asked for more general funding at the USC system’s satellite campuses, which get less state funding per resident student, at a total cost of $8.33 million.
On average, state government pays public universities $2,487 for each student from South Carolina, but falling state funding and growing enrollment have pushed regional campuses below that mark.
USC Beaufort gets $940 per resident student, USC Upstate $1,701 and USC Aiken $2,297, said Jane Upshaw, the chancellor of USC Beaufort.
“We do not have the tools our peers have been given,” Upshaw said.
That’s a growing concern as legislators and Haley consider changing how money for higher education is divvied up by moving to a performance-based model.
Pastides said it wouldn’t be fair to have universities compete against each other if their per-student funding wasn’t equal to begin with.
The university supports approving such a new model this year so the school can start adjusting to the new requirements, he said.
The system’s biggest request — $22.25 million — was to pay for maintenance projects across the state it hasn’t been able to afford, including $15 million for the Columbia campus.
Haley’s proposal was more meager, budgeting $9.59 million for the USC system at whole and $5.56 million for the Columbia campus.
The USC request for work in Columbia includes only repairs of the aging Hamilton College, which was built in 1943.
That project would renovate the wing of the building that abuts Pendleton Street and add classrooms. It would also improve the mechanical and electrical systems and interior of the wing along Pickens Street, according to the university’s proposal.
In a 2007 report to the Commission on Higher Education, the university estimated it would need $30 million per year to keep deferred maintenance needs in Columbia from growing. In 2010, it identified $594 million of projects on the main campus that it hadn’t been able to fund.
“It’s not just about how things look,” Pastides said. “Students are savvy enough to know we don’t need a paint job if that’s not the worst thing in the world, but in certain cases, we’re talking about vital health and safety issues.”