FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – Tuition at Florence-Darlington Technical College is going up 4.7 percent in the fall after the board approved a tuition increase last week. Students will pay an additional $8 per credit hour which adds up to about an extra $100 per semester.
This comes about three months after the school received a $1.6 million audit from the Department of Education for failing to properly document financial aid and Pell Grants. Some students were skeptical of the timing of the tuition increase and were wondering if it was prompted by that audit.
“They may be trying to use that as a way to make up for the money that they owe,” said senior Diamond Rush.
But Clay Williams, the college’s communications director, says the two situations are unrelated. He says the money from the tuition raise will only be used to pay teachers and make campus improvements.
“It’s going to go for salaries. Salaries go up. The cost of doing business goes up so we need the increase,” he explained.
This is the second tuition increase in the last two years. School officials say they try to keep all tuition hikes less than 10 percent. The last one was around 6 percent. Williams says the school is working to pay the Department of Education back but not with tuition money. He estimates it will take three years to make those payments.
