USC President Harris Pastides asked for $10.1 million from the state government Wednesday, so the university can take what the university calls a “tuition timeout.”
The $10.1 million request is equivalent to a 3-percent tuition raise, which would cover retirement, health insurance and salary costs; this gap has been bridged by tuition cost hikes in years past. The money would be spread across all eight campuses in the USC system.
If the request is approved, Pastides promised to give state legislators credit in tuition letters to students.
While addressing a state House Ways and Means subcommittee, Pastides said the university could not find the last time tuition had stayed the same from one year to the next, even though staff members reviewed tuition costs from the past 25 years.
Although last year’s tuition increase of a little more than 3 percent was the lowest increase in recent history, Pastides said it was not enough.
Instead of bringing several requests to the committee, as Pastides said he was advised to do, he opted to ask only for state funding for the tuition freeze, straying from requests made in past years.
“Today is a historic moment for our flagship university and for South Carolina’s government,” he said. “I hope we can agree it’s not time for business as usual.”
According to the U.S. News and World Report, USC ranks among the most efficient universities in the country, but it’s far lower on the list when it comes to its financial resources per student, he said.
“It’s not fair, and it’s not in the best interest of our working families,” he said. “That’s why I’m asking you for a tuition timeout. I think that’s a step toward accountability-based funding, and it’s a step toward fair funding.”
Pastides said he thought the proposal has been met with a “generally positive response” and has been “making headway,” though it is still early.
State Rep. B.R. Skelton, R-Pickens, who made similar tuition suggestions to university presidents in the past, thanked Pastides for his efforts to freeze tuition costs. Skelton said he was “sick and tired of taxing education.”
Aside from the tuition timeout, the university also asked the committee to approve a $3.4 million request that would allow students to use lottery scholarship awards year-round, including during summer terms. Officials have said that freeing up state scholarships for a third, summer semester is key to that program’s success.