Tuition to jump 7 percent next year

COLUMBIA — Classes at the College of Charleston got more expensive Monday after tuition for undergraduate South Carolina students was set to jump $588 next year and $1,428 for their out-of-state schoolmates.

College President George Benson said the 7 percent increase is meant to strike a balance between financial pressures on students and their families and the expense of maintaining academic standards at the institution, which has absorbed dramatic cuts handed down by the state Legislature.

Economic conditions left state coffers with more than a billion dollars less than legislators thought they had for the upcoming budget a year ago. To make up the deficit, legislators passed big budget cuts — $8.8 million at the college — onto higher education institutions.

The result is more expensive tuition at South Carolina's already expensive public colleges. Ten years ago, state government paid for 30 percent of the College of Charleston's budget. Now, the Legislature's portion is 13.25 percent.

That trend helped offset the benefit of lottery-funded scholarships, also shifting more of a burden onto students and families.

Alan Richard, director of communications for the Southern Regional Education Board, said college is less affordable today for many families at a time when the country needs more people to finish college degrees and career certificates.

The tuition for an in-state undergraduate at the college will run $8,988 next year and $21,846 for an out-of-state undergraduate student.

The rate for in-state graduate students will be $9,886 and $24,030 for their out-of-state peers, a 12 percent increase. That amount reflects the 7 percent increase approved Monday and a 5 percent increase that previously was approved.

The average cost of an education at a South Carolina public college was $7,700 for in-state students in 2007-08, the last year for which comparative data is available. That tops the national average of $5,500 for public colleges and the Southern average of $5,000, Richard said.

The state also ranks among those in the Southern region that receive the least amount of state support. Only two states in the region receive less from their legislatures, Texas and Delaware.

"We need more people to finish college in South Carolina and other states in the South, and we're not making it easier on ourselves because costs are increasing significantly," Richard said. He noted the pressure also on state government to operate in the current economy.

Affordability and accessibility impact graduation rates, he said. The rate of students at public institutions who finish college in South Carolina is 59 percent, compared with 55 percent nationally and 52 percent in the South.

"South Carolina's future growth and prosperity will go hand-in-hand with the levels of education our people have," Richard said.

Benson said that the tuition increases and other budgetary conditions, such as closing the governor's school, will generate $7.5 million in new revenue for the college. Of that, $1.1 million will be returned to the students in scholarships, including two new full academic scholarships and increases to need-based financial aid.

The tuition increase for undergraduates would have been higher without $4.69 million in federal stimulus money that the college is set to receive, Benson said. That money was designed in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help states pay for public education during the economy downtown. It also was part of a recently settled dispute between the S.C. Legislature and Gov. Mark Sanford.

To cope with falling state revenue, South Carolina's public colleges and universities have required staff and faculty to take unpaid leave, closed programs, restructured departments and, in some case, handed out pink slips.

South Carolina State University recently approved an 8.4 percent tuition increase for next year. The Citadel and the University of South Carolina are expected to announce rates this week, and a decision at Clemson University should soon follow.

Trident Technical College tuition will jump 3.6 percent next year and tuition increases at the Medical University of South Carolina will range by college from 7 percent to 17 percent.