House budget includes tuition cap
Proposal would limit increases to Index

Published: Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 6:53 am

By Anna Simon
STAFF WRITER
asimon@greenvillenews.com

CLEMSON -- Tuition increases at public universities and colleges in South Carolina could be capped at five percent for the coming school year.

The House recently approved a state budget containing a proviso to cap tuition at the Higher Education Price Index.

The index, called HEPI, measures inflation in terms of the goods and services colleges and universities must pay for. It covers categories from administrative salaries to utility costs.

The number, established by the Commonfund Institute annually, is sort of like a cost-of-living increase or a consumer price index for higher education institutions.

The HEPI is released each spring, but the House budget bill calls for the prior year's number to be used. The 2006 figure was five percent.

This year Clemson tuition is $9,400 a year, based on two semesters, for full-time in-state students, a 5.8 percent increase over the prior year. Under the budget proposal, it could rise by no more than $470, to $9,870.

University of South Carolina tuition, currently $7,808 a year for in-state students, could increase no more than $390, to $8,198. Last year tuition rose 6.75 percent.