Stagnant funding halts USC’s development
President Pastides released a video statement last Friday promoting an increase in state funding to enable the university to call a “tuition timeout.” Pastides’ proposal asks legislatures to “work with us for a long term funding solution” and proposes that colleges who feed into our states’ economy should be rewarded for their efforts.
Back in September, Pastides proposed the same tuition freeze at his State of the University address requesting state funding for three years to cover increasing employee pay, energy bills, and employee health insurance costs. After another year of decreased funding from the state, he called for an end to blaming tuition hikes on anyone specific suggesting, “Let’s agree to meet state government halfway.”
Students saw a tuition increase of 3.15 percent which could grow even more next year without additional state funding. As a student I can’t help but support such a cause as the universities’ new “Carolina Action Network.” After all, who wants to pay more money? South Carolina sure doesn’t want to open their wallet to pay the bill, but we may be paying for a lot more if changes aren’t made. The Commission on Higher Education ranks South Carolina 38th in the nation for state support of higher education. We have all heard the gruesome statistics for education and graduation rates in our state.
If our schools continue to spiral downward and start to bring our college enrollment numbers with it, our state’s economy could start to see a change as well.
Whether or not our state government sees any light in this idea of “meeting halfway,” the question stands: if money is provided for state education where will it come from?
University administration has a tough decision to make. Refusing to raise tuition for students of our university means no improvements or expansion. I think many of my fellow Carolinians would agree with me when I say our university isn’t growing at the rate it should. With attendance increasing across our campus our facilities just can’t keep up. I mean, have you tried finding a place to park on this campus lately?
I for one am glad to have Pastides in my corner for this one. Let’s just hope his efforts aren’t for nothing. Support the Carolina Action Network and see President Pastides’ statement by visiting www.mycarolina.org/CAN