University President Jim Barker today (Jan. 19) made his E&G budget presentation to the Higher Education Subcommittee of the House Ways & Means Committee in Columbia. Inside Clemson is distributing the prepared text of those remarks, as well as remarks made by Student Body President Ryan Duane, to faculty, staff and students.

Remarks to the Higher Education Budget Subcommittee
of the House Ways & Means Committee
January 19, 2011

By Clemson University President James F. Barker

Chairman Limehouse  
Representative Skelton
Representative Neal
and Ms. Katie Owen and Staff
 
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today, representing the faculty, staff and students of Clemson University. Before I begin my remarks, I would like to introduce our Undergraduate Student Body President, Ryan Duane.
 
Ryan is a senior from Irmo majoring in Financial Management. He has been an outstanding leader this year, working closely with students and the administration to represent their interest to us, and to help us keep students well-informed about issues affecting their university. He also represented his fellow students at the Governor’s Summit on Higher Education last fall, and he has some observations to share with you, so I would like to give him about 5 minutes of my time.
 
[Remarks from Ryan Duane; scroll to end of President Barker’s text to read text of Duane’s remarks.]

Thank you, Ryan. I think you can see why being around students like Ryan keeps me well-grounded and focused. They will definitely tell you what’s on their minds.

Normally I begin my own testimony at this hearing by re-capping highlights and accomplishments from the past year at Clemson.  Then I list some challenges and needs, and conclude with our funding request for the next year.  

We all know, however, that this is anything but a “normal” year.  The challenges this body faces are enormous.  

You and your colleagues must craft a spending plan and a legislative agenda that is based in fiscal reality — one that will also give schools, colleges and universities the maximum ability to preserve the gains in educational quality that our state has made over the past decade.  
“Reality” is the key word in that previous sentence.  

Therefore, I would like to use my remaining time to cover Five Factsthat may surprise you, given some of the misinformation and misperceptions we hear from time to time.

Fact number 1 — Clemson is affordable for South Carolina students.

I want this Committee to know that the affordability of a Clemson education is of foremost importance to me and the Clemson Board of Trustees.  I also want this Committee to know that there is a difference between the “sticker price” – that is, reported tuition rates  — and the real cost that students pay to attend Clemson.

The first difference is the positive financial impact of the state scholarships — Palmetto Fellows, LIFE and Hope scholarships. These scholarships have the direct result of lowering the cost for South Carolina students to attend Clemson.

In Fall 2010, every single one of our 1,824 incoming freshmen from South Carolina received a scholarship — 99 percent of them were State scholarships you provide. The average amount was $7,902.
 
The average first-time in-state freshmen at Clemson last year actually paid $3,462 in academic fees, compared to the sticker price of $10,848. The realtuition cost to in-state students is about 32 percent of sticker price.  
 
The second part of this “affordability” equation is that there is a difference between cost and value.
 
As an economist, Representative Skelton, you know that demand is the best measure of the value of a good or service. “Affordable” means something different to every individual and every family.

The marketplace is speaking, and demand for a quality Clemson education remains strong. We continue to set records for both freshman and transfer applications.   

This tells us that students and parents continue to see a Clemson education as a good value and a good investment, which it is.   

The ultimate measure of affordability is whether or not students apply, enroll, and persist to graduation with a Clemson degree.  

That is happening, Chairman Limehouse, thanks to the steadfast support you and your colleagues have shown for the State scholarship programs. Ryan is correct in saying that you don’t get enough credit for your commitment to this program.

With the understanding that an increase in appropriations to our institution is not possible next year, Clemson would ask that the General Assembly maintain full funding for this vital state scholarship program.  

This is the single most important thing you can do to support Clemson, higher education and South Carolina families.  

Fact Number 2 — Clemson is efficient

In his own testimony last week, CHE president Garrison Walters said: “The assumption that there is significant existing inefficiency is wrong. South Carolina’s colleges and universities are already deeply focused on the issue of efficiency and have been for years.”

For almost a decade, Clemson has had an aggressive discovery process to find ways to deliver better service at a lower cost — that is, to improve efficiency. Cost savings were re-directed to other priorities.

Then, two years ago in the first year of the Great Recession, Clemson eliminated 450 positions, offered retirement incentives and consolidated administrative units.

We shifted even more spending from administration and staff support to instruction and our core academic programs.  

Today, Clemson University has gone from a lean operation to an extremely lean operation.  

We graduate 27 percent more undergraduate students now than we did in FY 2000, and our retention rate has increased from 87 percent in 2000 to 91 percent in 2009.

Institutional support costs per student at far lower at Clemson than at peer institutions — 23 percent lower than the University of Georgia, 32 percent lower than NC State, 44 percent lower than Georgia Tech, and 53 percent lower than UNC.

Operations and maintenance of plant costs are lower by even larger percentages, ranging from 47 percent lower than Georgia to 68 percent lower than UNC.  

Additional efficiency gains are possible only if we are given the tools to manage the loss of state funding.

Regulatory reform legislation was supported by the House of Representatives in 2009. We ask that this much-needed bill be considered again and passed by the General Assembly in 2011.

Fact Number 3 — Clemson is accessible for South Carolina students

People seem genuinely surprised when I tell them that, last year, 87 percent of in-state applicants were offered either August or January admission, or the Bridge to Clemson program.
 
Also, our resident/non-resident student ratio of 65-35 has remained remarkably constant for decades, and we are educating more South Carolina students today than ever before in the 120-year history of Clemson University.  
 
We ask that you allow these decisions to remain under the guidance of our Board of Trustees.

Fact Number 4 — Clemson is productive

Clemson University continues to make progress towards its goal to become one of the nation’s Top 20 Public Institutions. We have maintained our ranking as 23rd among public colleges and universities despite the current economic environment.

Clemson has increased retention and graduation rates. The total number of graduates has increased 21.3 percent since FY 2000.  

Clemson continues to improve upon our aging infrastructure as well as build upon our competitiveness through the investment in new facilities.

With state funding provided by this Committee in 2007 and 2008, we began work on the IT infrastructure for the C-Light Regional Optical Network and the South Carolina Light Rail, which link researchers in communities across South Carolina with national and international research networks and enables full-speed access to national cyberinfrastructure.   

In July 2010, the Clemson University Research Foundation received a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to improve cyberinfrastructure in South Carolina, which has allowed us to build upon the state’s investment.

Representative Neal, I know you have a specific interest in ensuring that these technology upgrades benefit the rural areas of our state. We are working to do just that.

These are just a few of the indicators of what a productive Clemson University means to South Carolina and its economy.  

Fact Number 5 — Clemson is delivering for South Carolina  

We have built an up-and-coming graduate program in automotive engineering that is helping CU-ICAR attract private sector partners like Proterra, a maker of hybrid and electric transit vehicles, and Sage Automotive, a spin-off of Milliken that makes fabric for the auto market. These two companies alone have announced that they expect to create 1,700 new jobs in South Carolina in the coming years.  

We have begun construction of a wind turbine drivetrain testing facility in North Charleston that promises to make South Carolina a hub of the wind energy economy. Already, IMO Group has announced that it selected the Charleston region for a new manufacturing plant that will add 190 jobs in part because of this facility.

Clemson remains committed to the role in economic development that we can play for the State.

****
 
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the support and advocacy for higher education and Clemson University that the members of this committee have demonstrated.  In better economic times, we have always found a receptive audience to our requests. But even in these difficult economic times, this committee can take a strong stand for public higher education during this legislative session.
 
We ask that you support specific higher education initiatives that are substantive but realistic, specifically:
 

• Meaningful regulatory reform to give us tools to manage with reduced funding

• Continued commitment to the LIFE/Palmetto Fellows/HOPE scholarship program, which is keeping our best and brightest students in state

• Restraint on mandates such as tuition caps and enrollment caps that might sound attractive on the surface but could have unintended consequences.  More regulation with less funding is the worst possible scenario.

We also want to keep alive the debate on a bond bill and future funding for the endowed chairs program. While this budget year may not allow for an investment in these programs they remain key drivers in our future competitiveness.
 
Thank you for your time and attention. I’ll be happy to answer questions.

Remarks to the Higher Education Budget Subcommittee
of the House Ways & Means Committee
January 19, 2011

By Clemson University Student Body President Ryan Duane

Thank you, President Barker. My name is Ryan Duane. I am a senior, finance major from Irmo, South Carolina, and I have the honor and privilege of serving as the Clemson Student Body President. Thank you for allowing me the time to share my thoughts, and those of my peers, on higher education.  

I’d like to start by thanking you for the LIFE Scholarship I received, which enabled me to attend Clemson University and be with you here today. Almost all of my classmates have received these types of merit-based awards and undoubtedly chose Clemson because of the great value provided by the scholarship.

In November, I had the opportunity to attend the Governor’s Summit on Higher Education and have had some time to reflect on that experience. At the summit, I expressed my concerns and the concerns of the students I represent about the lack of discussion about quality. The coverage of the Summit in the media would lead you to believe that South Carolina only cares about keeping costs low and does not care about the quality of education received. I know that’s not true because of my experience at Clemson.

In my finance classes, my classmates and I are able to manage a portfolio of over $200,000 using the latest technology. As a member of student government, I am able to make a positive difference on campus and have learned about management and leadership. Those experiences gave me a competitive advantage that allowed me to intern for a Fortune 500 company last summer, that recruited students from Clemson, as well as Harvard, Yale, and Cornell, just to name a few.

My experience at Clemson is unique, but it is not uncommon. Other students have studied abroad in every corner of the world, started a business in South Carolina, or participated in research alongside a first-class professor. These experiences are very accessible to all students, and are what add value to our degree. Students expect these experiences, and Clemson meets those expectations, and then exceeds them.  

I know the General Assembly is wrestling with tremendous budget challenges this year. You are likely hearing from people, including students, who are understandably concerned about tuition in a recession. However, our President and Board of Trustees have proven that they have the best interests of students at heart and because of their past actions, students place a great deal of confidence in them. They solicit our input when making decisions about tuition, fees, and other programs that affect our education. The solutions they implement fit ouruniversity and its’ students. Their actions make a positive impact. I ask that you all continue to support legislation that enables our university the flexibility to pursue initiatives that will benefit students most.

I mean no disrespect to this body, to President Barker or the leaders of Clemson, but our students have options. If we feel that costs are too high or that the leadership is mismanaging our education, we will go elsewhere. At this point in time, applications are at an all-time high, an indicator that our education is a great value and in high demand.  

Recently, students are becoming more concerned about the overall negativity of the discussion about higher education. I would like to see the conversation about the future of higher education change from one that is perceived to be negative — how can we cut budgets even further?  — to one that is about quality — how can we make sure South Carolina high school graduates get the higher education they need to compete in the 21st century?

We have made great strides since I entered college just four years ago, but we still have a lot of work to do. I encourage the members of this committee and any member of the assembly to evaluate each issue carefully and thoughtfully.  

In conclusion, I would like to deliver a message from our students to you all. Thank you for listening to us, and thank you for making higher education a priority in South Carolina. Your investment in us is valuable to the future of our state and our nation.