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By William T. Moore
The state’s public universities have been criticized for raising tuition, most recently in an argument for a moratorium on capital spending. But to suggest that the University of South Carolina has raised tuition excessively is simply wrong, just as it is wrong to imply that the legislature is unconcerned about the education needs of our state.
The simple fact is that in FY 2011 alone, the University of South Carolina’s Columbia campus lost $25,112,025 in state funding. This comes straight out of the university’s operating budget. Even worse, it’s recurring, so we don’t expect this funding to return to our budget for the foreseeable future. In contrast, this year’s tuition increase is projected to produce only $15,775,000.
The claim that tuition and mandatory fees are higher in South Carolina’s public universities than in neighboring states’ public universities is true, but misleading. Based on FY 2008-09 data, tuition per full-time equivalent (FTE) student in South Carolina was $10,851. In North Carolina, it was $4,933, and in Georgia, it was $4,780. However, South Carolina’s state appropriation per FTE was $4,820 compared with $11,552 in North Carolina and $7,788 in Georgia. In South Carolina, public university students paid 61% of the cost per FTE, whereas in Georgia, students paid only 38%. In North Carolina students paid only 30%.
Simply put, the Palmetto State lags behind neighboring states in higher education funding. In fact, state appropriations as a funding source in South Carolina slipped behind tuition in 2002-03. And the gap has widened steadily. More recent data will tell the same story.
In USC’s budget for fiscal year 2010-11, state support is actually fourth on the list of funding sources, behind tuition; grants, contracts and gifts; and sales and services of auxiliary enterprises. Nevertheless, we must manage our financial resources to deliver a quality education in this environment, and we have done so through a systematic and thorough budgeting and planning process that involves representatives of student government, faculty and staff. The process balances funding needs to provide a first-class education with our core value of maintaining access and affordability.
The budgets support strategic plans and are reviewed at every administrative level before being approved by President Harriss Pastides and the board of trustees.
Tuition, as a major piece of the overall budget, increases for several reasons, including inflation, health and safety needs, and academic initiatives.
Inflation we can all appreciate. The university is not exempt from higher costs for electricity, heat and water, library materials and insurance. All of these affect tuition.
The health and safety of our students is a non-negotiable priority. Tuition increases help support needs such as replacement of fire alarms and extinguishers and asbestos removal and abatement. Still another reason for rising costs is the expense of maintaining and occasionally renovating facilities including classrooms, labs and residence halls. USC is more than 200 years old, and it shows. We are justifiably proud and protective of our historic buildings, and we are committed to maintaining these state treasures for future generations.
This brings me to address the proposed moratorium on capital spending. The governor has said that universities should cease capital spending and focus more on instruction and learning. With all due respect to Gov. Sanford, capital spending on classrooms, labs and campus safety is indispensible to our teaching mission. Moreover, while tuition supports many essential functions, it is not siphoned off to construct fancy buildings. In fact, most funding for capital projects is from sources other than tuition, such as athletics and housing revenues.
We respectfully remind the governor that our state has not passed a bond bill to support capital projects in years, so that USC’s capital projects have been funded and are being funded without state-appropriated dollars. We have worked hard to secure alternative sources of financing in these difficult times, just as we have worked to keep tuition as low as possible. This is the responsible thing to do.
This is not the time to suspend capital investment, and it is never a time to point fingers. Let us unite in our efforts to improve the fortunes of our state. We’re in this together. And in this challenging economic environment, we’re all doing the best we can.
William T. Moore is vice president, finance and planning at the University of South Carolina Columbia and the Berlinberg Professor of Finance in the Darla Moore School of Business.
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