As a member of the Clemson University Board of Visitors and more importantly, as a Clemson parent, I could not sit quietly and not respond to a letter of April 8 titled "Why is Clemson so expensive?"

While I share the letter writer's concerns about rising tuition costs, I'm gratified to see institutions such as Clemson University take a stand for academic quality. We must provide as many opportunities as possible for South Carolina's students to attend a top-tier university without leaving our state. No one likes paying higher prices, but if price were the only driver of the college selection activity, Clemson would not continue to see record applications year after year. I was very satisfied with the value of my children's educations at Clemson.

The answer to the writer's question resides with the state Legislature. Even with lottery scholarships, we place a very high burden on families. In 2006-07, Georgia's per-student state funding averaged $7,297 and South Carolina's $4,650 (ranking South Carolina 15th out of 16 Southeastern states in terms of per-student funding, according to the Southern Regional Education Board State Data Exchange). Clemson's per-student funding is roughly 32 percent of UNC's and 48 percent of Georgia Tech's.

As reported in The Greenville News on March 29, Clemson President Jim Barker has done a good job of addressing the misunderstandings about Clemson's fund balance, which has nothing to do with tuition. We need to look beyond misleading sound bites and urge our state leaders to make higher education a higher priority. It is critical to the future of our state.

Doug Harper
Greenville