Affordable tuition needed

You don't have to be a math major to take S.C. college tuitions, increase them as much as 14.75 percent and arrive at some bad news. If you happen to be a college student, or the parents of one, the news is even worse.

One by one, the state's public four-year colleges have announced tuition hikes. They have blamed devastating cuts in their state funding and pointed to the end of federal stimulus funds.

They have talked about the need to sustain academic programs and enhance their national profiles. They have stated the obvious and difficult truths of a gloomy economy.

But colleges are only valuable if students can afford to take advantage of them. And in South Carolina, where public college tuition and unemployment both are higher than the national average, $1,000 here and $1,000 there can diminish a student's chances for a college degree.

College trustees should be concerned that they might have raised tuition out of the reach of some students they are charged with educating.

Tuition went up 14.75 percent at the College of Charleston and 13 percent at The Citadel. (This is one area where Charleston doesn't need to be leading the state.) Tuition also increased 7.5 percent at Clemson, 6.9 percent at the University of South Carolina and 5.7 percent at S.C. State.

Clemson's tuition for in-state students will grow to almost $12,000 a year despite the school's eliminating 450 positions, imposing furloughs and putting off construction projects.

This is a particularly bad time to put added financial barriers in front of South Carolinians working toward their college degrees. Boeing, the wind turbine test facility and other major businesses that are moving here, all need employees who are able to handle challenging jobs.

The state's community and technical colleges are helping. Not only do they teach students skills specific to different industries, they offer lower cost courses that can be used towards bachelor's degrees.

Tuition at Trident Technical College rose too, but only by 2.3 percent.

The state's colleges attract out-of-state students, who pay more and often have SAT scores higher than their in-state students. But the mission of state colleges should be to provide good educations first to the residents of South Carolina. Who knows how many students will be unable to take advantage of that because of the tuition hikes?

College admissions counselors should redouble their efforts to help potential students find needed financial aid and scholarship money. In high schools, college counselors will have to help students beat the scholarship bushes, too.

Colleges are up against daunting financial challenges.

But students and their families are feeling the same strains, and more. State colleges should not let financial pressures diminish South Carolinians' opportunities for higher education.