It’s great to be a Gamecock, but has the university stretched themselves too far to include everyone in this big USC family?
Freshmen who may not have otherwise been admitted to USC due to academic reasons have a chance to transfer after one academic year through the Gamecock Gateway program. The majority of students that enter this program complete it successfully and enjoy their sophomore year on the Columbia campus.
Currently, this program is only open to South Carolina residents. However, by next year, it will be open to out-of-state students. The benefits of this inclusion are questionable at best.
It’s true that Gateway students get a tuition cut; students pay a little less than $4,000 per semester for the program and housing whereas in-state tuition for USC is upwards of four times that cost. But if trends hold true, tuition will most likely be higher for those attending out-of-state than South Carolina students. While a rejection can be devastating, there are other options closer to home that don’t require the expenses of going out-of-state, only to possibly transfer a year later.
It is confusing as to why out-of-state students would want to go through the hurdles of this particular program, when there are most likely other similar programs in their own state.
The program makes sense for South Carolina students because USC is a state institution and it should be welcoming to and inclusive of its own community. The Gateway program has a 95 percent success rate, and clearly those students are working hard to make the most of their academic opportunity. However, the university already has a 60.6 percent acceptance rate, which is comparatively open. While we are happy to bring students into the Gamecock family, by opening up the admissions even further to include out-of-state students in the Gateway program, we are undermining the integrity of the students that are already here. While it may be great, not everyone can be a Gamecock.