The already dwindling portion of USC's operating budget fulfilled by state funding will be even smaller in 2017-18.
Only 10.4 percent of the $1.6 billion USC will spend in the coming academic year will be provided by the state of South Carolina, slightly down from 10.5 percent in 2016-17, less than half the 23 percent figure presented to the board a decade ago. Over the same period, South Carolina trails only three states – Illinois, Louisiana and Arizona – in cuts to higher education funding over the past decade. Higher education funding is down 37 percent in the state since 2008.
Toney J. Lister has been a member of USC’s Board of Trustees since 1994. An attorney for the 7th Judicial Circuit and a 1974 graduate of the USC School of Law, Lister has held his seat on the board through three university presidents, five head football coaches and the introduction of ice hockey as a club sport. Thus, Lister was well-seasoned when discussion of dwindling state funding for higher education began at Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting.
“We have been forgotten at the Statehouse,” Lister said prior to passage of USC’s then-proposed 2017-18 operating budget of $1.6 billion.
Student Body President Ross Lordo said the increase was necessary to keep the university’s revenue stable, as tuition and fees will comprise 48.8 percent of USC’s budget in 2017-18.
“The difficult yet unavoidable decision for a modest tuition increase is necessary to maintain the world-class educational environment we, as students, experience at the University of South Carolina,” Lordo said in a Friday university press release announcing passage of the 2017-18 budget.
Board of Trustees chairman John C. von Lehe divulged as much in the same release.
“It’s an unfortunate reality that in the absence of additional state funding, tuition increases are one of the only tools available to cover rising costs and ensure USC continues to provide a world-class educational experience to its students,” said von Lehe.