Clemson, USC, others would become private under SC bill

By Robert Kittle

(COLUMBIA, SC)

Clemson, USC, and all of the other public colleges and universities in South Carolina would become private, not-for-profit schools under a bill filed in the state House of Representatives. All of the state money that now goes to those schools would go straight to students instead, as scholarships.

Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, is sponsoring the bill. “We have a great many schools with redundance in what they are providing to students, and we have a finite amount of money to spend on those,” he says. “I think we would be better off-putting the money with the student and then let the free market work.”

He says the bill would force schools to evaluate which programs are working and which ones aren’t and then get rid of the ones that aren’t. Because the schools would be competing for students and would have less money, they would have to consider eliminating programs that are offered by other schools.

He said another reason he introduced the bill is because of the growth in out-of-state students at Clemson and USC. “I’ve heard from parents who want to know why their kids can’t get into Clemson and Carolina especially,” he says.

A recent report by the Washington Post found that the University of South Carolina and most other states’ flagship universities are taking an increasing number of out-of-state students, since they pay much higher tuition. That helps make up for reductions in state funds for the schools. USC ranked 6th-highest in the increase in percentage of out-of-state freshman enrolled between 2004 and 2014.

USC President Harris Pastides says he thinks the bill is a bad idea. “You can’t take the University for South Carolina and send it off privately. As it is, we’re down to about 10 percent state support,” he says.

He says if the bill were to become law, all schools would be forced to take more out-of-state students. “We’re extremely prudent in limiting the number of out-of-state students. The vast majority of students in the USC system are from within South Carolina. We want to keep it that way,” he says. On the Columbia campus, 68 percent of students are from South Carolina, according to a school spokesman.

Rep. Pitts says, “I think schools like Francis Marion and Lander University, that have a high number of South Carolina students, would increase their enrollment because more South Carolina students would go there. I think the University of South Carolina would probably go after more out-of-state students that pay more tuition because of the out-of-state fees.”

He says the switch to private, not-for-profit status would be good for students. “It should not affect them at all except for the fact that they would have more money to spend on tuition, they would have more scholarship money to provide for their education and not have to incur student loans,” he says.

USC grad student Ali Johnson says, “I know plenty of people that owe over $100,000 in student loans just for a bachelor’s degree, so I think that would be a good move. If the students could get more money and more programs and more scholarships, I think that’d be great.”

But sophomore Mary Beth Barringer says, “I understand that they’re saying they would give these out as scholarships but that’s not a guarantee to everyone. I wouldn’t be guaranteed to get the scholarship so it might not help me in the end.”

Rep. Pitts says he’s gotten some interest in the idea from Coastal Carolina, Lander, Francis Marion, and Clemson. He says Clemson could be a problem, though, since it’s a land grant university. While working on the bill, they’ll have to figure out how that might work. But he says there’s a reversion clause in the bill, so if any college were to go under its land and buildings would revert back to the state.

Clemson spokesperson Cathy Sams says she didn’t have any information on the school’s position on the possibility of going private.