The Executive Committee of USC’s Board of Trustees has given preliminary approval to an approximately $790 million budget for fiscal year 2004-05 for all eight university campuses.

The budget includes an 11-percent tuition increase that will expand both merit and need-based scholarship opportunities and bring more faculty to campus, thus reducing class size.

The full Board of Trustees is expected to ratify the proposal when it meets June 30.

President Andrew A. Sorensen told trustees that the new University budget is a strong statement of maintaining and improving quality.

"Carolina is making impressive progress even during these tough budget times," Sorensen said. "I commend the members of the Board of Trustees for their actions to responsibly deal with the continuing state budget reductions, and at the same time reinforcing our commitment to quality.

"This additional funding will assist us in continuing to provide the quality programs and opportunities students and their parents have come to expect from the state's flagship university."

The tuition increase at USC Columbia will generate approximately $14.4 million, which will be used primarily to pay for new programs, all aimed at enhancing undergraduate quality. Some of the new funded items:

• an additional $2.5 million for merit and need-based scholarships for South Carolina students
• an additional $1.25 million to expand student enrollment management services
• $2 million a year for the next six years ($12 million) for hiring new faculty to reduce class size
• $1.2 million for information technology improvements.

Funds from new tuition revenue also will be used to offset a $3.1-million cut in USC Columbia's state-appropriated funding.

Tuition for undergraduate students at USC Columbia will increase by 11 percent, or $304 per semester, this fall. Under the plan, an in-state undergraduate's tuition and fees will be $3,078 per semester, or $6,156 per school year, up from $5,548.

Undergraduate tuition for non-residents also will increase by 11 percent, or $819 per semester, to $8,262.

Tuition for in-state and out-of-state graduate students also will rise by 11 percent. A 10 percent increase also is planned for students attending USC's medical and law schools.

Tuition increases tentatively approved for in-state students attending USC's other four-year campuses in Aiken, Beaufort, and Spartanburg also amount to 11 percent.

The same increase (11 percent) was approved for the University's four regional campuses: USC Lancaster, USC Salkehatchie, USC Sumter, and USC Union.

USC is the state’s flagship university and the state's oldest and largest public university with an enrollment of about 34,545 students at eight campuses. Some 80 percent of USC students are from South Carolina.