Just say 'No' to tuition caps
University trustees need to control the rising cost of tuition, but state-imposed caps are misguided.

Published in The Greenville News: Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 6:00 am

Gov. Mark Sanford and legislative leaders are seeking the worst possible way to control the costs of higher education: tuition caps. Placing limits on tuition could damage the quality of education at Clemson University and at other state colleges.

Clamping down on tuition is precisely the wrong thing to do at a time when South Carolina urgently needs to raise the educational level of its work force to attract higher-paying knowledge-based jobs to the state.

Certainly rising tuitions are a concern. It's equally true that university trustees should be seeking ways to control rising costs. But a stark irony that should not be lost in this debate is that Sanford and legislative leaders such as House Speaker Bobby Harrell are partly responsible for the tuition increases of the past few years.

Tuition has risen largely in response to state leaders' underfunding of universities. Under Sanford and the state Legislature, the state appropriation per full-time student was dead last among 16 Southern states in 2003-2004, according to the Southern Regional Education Board. South Carolina spent $4,514 per student, according to the SREB.

Our neighboring states were far more generous in helping to ensure educational opportunity for young people. Georgia's state support was $7,209 per full-time student, while North Carolina's was $8,225.

More generous state support means that average tuition -- the burden on young people and their families -- is lower in Georgia and North Carolina than in South Carolina. Our state has the second highest tuition of the 16 Southern regional states, trailing only Maryland. That's an appalling status for South Carolina, one of the nation's poorest states.

State funding for higher education in South Carolina increased only 2.4 percent in the decade from 1995 to 2005, according to the SREB. Adjusted for inflation, however, state support actually fell by 25 percent.

Our neighbors, however, have increased state funding: From 1995 to 2005, North Carolina and Georgia increased state support for universities by 52.5 percent and 69.3 percent respectively -- or 10.6 percent and 22.7 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars. South Carolina devoted only 9.6 percent of the state budget to universities, while North Carolina committed 14.9 percent and Georgia 12 percent.

Affordable higher education is key to South Carolina's future and the hopes and dreams of young South Carolinians. University trustees will have to strive more aggressively to hold the line on tuition increases without sacrificing educational quality. What's needed from state leaders, meanwhile, is more investment in higher education with the recognition that those dollars will pay dividends in the form of high-paying jobs for South Carolina.