USC President Harry Pastides on Wednesday made his annual march to the State House to present this year’s funding requests for the university. Alongside a few smaller initiatives, he pitched the big one: a $10.1 million influx to keep the university’s in-state tuition at the same price for the 2014-15 school year.
Put simply, this “tuition timeout” is exactly what USC needs, and it’s to Pastides’ credit that he recognizes it. With a swelling enrollment, it is vital that USC remains a place that the average South Carolina native can afford.
To put the timeout in context, Pastides said that the university literally couldn’t find records of a time when the school did not raise its tuition over the course of a year, going back as far as 25 years. So, at the very least, it is safe to say that this is big in a good way.
Pastides has also taken a relatively novel approach at getting the “timeout” passed. Instead of pushing for a large number of funding propositions with the hope that some get through, which is standard practice, Pastides has put all of his proverbial eggs (and future USC students’) in one basket.
By keeping his proposal modest, however, he seems to have a better chance at winning the state’s favor. In truth, he isn’t asking for much when one considers how expensive some of the maintenance and construction requests have been the past few years.
This year’s request for a tuition freeze would cost the state $10.1 million. Last year’s request to renovate Hamilton College cost about the same.
So we’d ask: Which does more to benefit South Carolinians?
After Gov. Nikki Haley failed to mention higher education in her State of the State address later in the evening and after years of deep cuts to funding for colleges and universities, the state’s support for higher education doesn’t do much to inspire hope.
We hope Haley and the General Assembly will find the resolve, and the money, to fund a fairly modest request — one that will go far for South Carolina’s students.