UofSC prepared for controlled growth to meet future workforce needs
Posted on: January 27, 2015; Updated on: January 27, 2015
By Wes Hickman, whickman@mailbox.sc.edu
For several hours Tuesday (Jan.27), University of South Carolina President Harris Pastides, chancellors from across the system and senior university administrators presented the school's budget request to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Higher Education and Technical Colleges. Amid the data, tables and graphs the messages were clear:
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higher education is the key to future workforce development and economic prosperity in South Carolina;
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the Palmetto State needs more college graduates;
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college must be kept affordable for students and their families, and;
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to accomplish these goals, increased public investment in higher education is required.
In his opening statement Pastides told elected officials the university is prepared to do its part. Building on strong enrollment and degree completion at all of the system’s campuses—nearly 60,000 graduates since 2008—USC is prepared once again to grow.
“I can tell you we intend to continue to serve South Carolina by growing enrollment at the Columbia campus, enhance the ability for all our campuses and other South Carolina universities and technical colleges to reciprocate with USC and work toward educating and graduating more South Carolina residents for years to come.”
That growth will be controlled and carefully monitored over the next decade according to Pastides and will come with plans to address enhancements needed to maintain a high-level student experience: more faculty and academic advisers, additional classrooms and labs, more on-campus housing and enhanced parking and transportation options.
Higher education key to prosperity
A report by USC’s Darla Moore School of Business released in November 2013 shows that by 2030 the state will experience a shortfall of 70,000 baccalaureate degree holders needed to meet workforce demands. The bulk of the shortages will come in management, education, business and financial operations as well as computers and mathematics.
Pastides noted that USC could help meet these needs through its top-ranked international business programs and Honors College as well as 47 other nationally ranked academic programs that will build an educated leadership for South Carolina’s future. USC is one of only 40 public universities in the country—and the only universityin South Carolina—to hold both the top-tier research designation and the community engagement classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
In addition to the meeting the needs of South Carolina’s economy, college graduation brings individual economic benefit.
College graduates earn on average $15,000 more per year and $1 million more over a lifetime.
Pastides also praised USC’s new partnership with IBM announced in November, “USC has become a primary source for growing South Carolina’s own educated leaders. Through our comprehensive, hands-on intern programs —programs that teach diverse skillsets— these future leaders will be able to transition into jobs at Fortune 500 companies.”
Keeping college affordable
As South Carolina navigated through the Great Recession, state support for higher education was cut by 40 percent. Today, state appropriations fund only about 10 percent of USC’s total budget. As a result, the burden of paying for college has shifted to students and their parents through tuition increases.
“This model is no longer sustainable,” Pastides said.
USC’s Chief Financial Officer Leslie Brunelli said the university actually spends less per student now than it did in 2008—a fact that has led U.S. News & World Report to name USC as one of the top 15 most efficient universities in the nation.
Also during this time the university has been focused on keeping student debt low. Only 54 percent of students graduate from USC with debt and for those who do the average debt is $28,200—lower than the state and national averages.
Pastides added that Carolina students also benefit from lower out-of-pocket costs than the sticker price implies with net tuition costs averaging less than $5,000 for in-state freshmen.
The use of an enhanced academic advising system—identifying at-risk students who are in danger of failing a course or an exam, contacting them and warning them they risk not graduating on time—is one way USC helps student avoid unnecessary costs, Pastides said.
He also pointed to innovative initiatives like On Your Time and Palmetto College as ways to reduce costs for students.
“Graduating in three and a half years, while saving on room and board costs, is certainly an expeditious way to keep one’s debt down and accelerate earning potential,” Pastides said.
Public investment, a new partnership
“To remain competitive with other states, we need your help,” Pastides said. “Across the SEC, when you compare the state appropriations per student combined with the tuition and fees per student, only Ole Miss has fewer resources per student than USC. Clearly, we can’t continue down this path without serious repercussions. Now is the time to re-engage and rebuild that funding.”
Pastides noted that for every $1 the state invests in higher education it sees a $25 return in economic impact.
“When, as a state, we commit to a public investment in higher education it contributes to a bullish economy and a brighter future for all South Carolinians,” Pastides said. “Public higher education is the key, the actual foundation, to all economic progress.”
“A greater public investment in higher education will go a long way toward keeping college affordable, keeping our best and brightest here and building a workforce for the future” Pastides said in closing. “It will change the economic landscape of our state. Let’s work together—this is the time for vigorous and positive action.”
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