Blog | South Carolina’s only public historically black college might be shut down
This has been a long time coming, given the problems S.C. State University has been having for awhile:
COLUMBIA — A S.C. House budget panel voted Tuesday to close S.C. State University for a year to help the school ends it financial troubles.
The state’s only historically black public college has a $10 million deficit from unpaid bills to food and maintenance vendors. S.C. State’s enrollment has dropped sharply in recent years and just 14 percent of students graduate within four years.
The vote by the House panel that oversees funding for state colleges is the culmination of frustration over S.C. State’s finances, said Rep. Jim Merrill, a Berkeley Republican who heads the panel.
The plan, which still needs approval from the full House and Senate, would close S.C. State for the 2015-16 school year. Students could get scholarships to attend other state public colleges or other historically black schools if the keep a 2.5 grade-point average.
The state would replace the school administration and board of trustees under the proposal. Other employees at the Orangeburg school would have to reapply for their jobs, said Rep. Phillip Lowe, a Florence Republican on the panel.
The state would need to work out terms to repay $7.5 million in loans it has given to S.C. State as well as an estimated $100 million in bonds that the school holds.
S.C. State would reopen in fall 2017.
State has a proud history. It once was putting more players into the NFL than either Clemson or the University of South Carolina and produced a cadre of teachers and other professionals.
I know many professionals, and professional athletes who once called S.C. State home.
During the past several years, it has had real problems, financial and otherwise. I can’t say shuttering the place for two years is the right or wrong decision. I’d have to see more details about the goals of such a plan. But I can say it’s long past time to deal with the school’s myriad struggles.
Here is more background:
Last week, S.C. State asked House budget writers for $13.7 million to pay off the $6 million state loan and improve operations. If granted, the allocation would double the amount of tax money the university received this year, to $27 million.
It’s important to note that S.C. State now faces $10 million in unpaid vendor bills and that the increased funding request does not include any money to help repay the second state loan of $12 million.
Let’s count the ways this doesn’t add up: S.C. State was $13 million in debt originally and was extended a $6 million loan. Short of cutting $7 million from its budget, it was certain to remain in the red, which it did. When it was clear that the university’s woes were worse than thought, a $12 million loan was approved. While that will be helpful, it won’t be helpful enough given that the money will be released over time rather than at once. How do we know that? Because of last week’s request for increased funding that would be used to pay off bills and repay the original $6 million loan.
If S.C. State officials and state leaders are sincere about wanting to preserve this storied university for generations to come, they must abandon this shortsighted approach aimed at merely plugging a budget hole and focus instead on the long-standing, chronic problems that helped bring us to this point.
One of the first things state officials should do is face the fact that if S.C. State can’t pay its bills, it can’t repay those loans. Why not acknowledge that those loans are really appropriations to a state-owned college that long has struggled because of its own missteps as well as financial neglect and poor oversight from state leaders?
This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Blog | South Carolina’s only public historically black college might be shut down."