CCU plans to build a $15 million indoor football practice facility, steady on tuition
Coastal Carolina University plans to build a $15 million indoor football practice facility across University Boulevard from Brooks Stadium, and will not increase tuition for a second straight year.
The CCU Board of Trustees got the ball rolling Thursday on the practice facility by passing a motion to transfer the required land from the Coastal Educational Foundation to the university and establish a capital project for its construction.
The facility would be funded entirely by donor gifts.
The CEF, a nonprofit that supports the university, must approve the land transfer.
A $10,000 environmental study will be the initial step toward the creation of the facility.
The building of the indoor practice facility would coincide with the rerouting of University Blvd., the primary road through campus, near S.C. 544.
CCU director of athletics Matt Hogue said the facility will help the football program’s competitiveness both on the field and in recruiting.
“It’s a practical need because we’re in an area where, particularly in the . . . fall weather can be unpredictable and we really don’t have an alternative when that happens,” Hogue said. “With the lightning rules and thunderstorms, and if we get into a situation where you have heavy rains from a tropical system, so on the one side we need that to be able to keep consistency with practices. You only get so many practices.”
Many of CCU’s competitors in the Sun Belt Conference, other Group of Five conferences and certainly Power Five conferences have indoor facilities.
“You want to be able to keep pace with your peers and competitors in what is always a highly competitive recruiting climate. So it’s twofold,” Hogue said. “This is something as we move forward to enhance our program and keep coaches around and maintain continuity, you’ve got to meet these obligations as well. . . . It’s something recruits pay attention to.”
The facility will house a full football field so it will have to be at least about 90,000 square feet with a high ceiling for special teams work, according to Hogue, who expects the facility to be used for other purposes and during the hosting of events -- both athletic such as the Myrtle Beach Bowl game and non-athletic. “It gives us something else on our campus to utilize,” Hogue said.
The Chanticleer Athletic Foundation, the non-profit that supports CCU athletics, is in the process of beginning fundraising. Hogue hopes the facility could be completed by the end of 2022.
“We want to fast-track it,” Hogue said. “We’d like to be able to say by the end of this year our funding is close to where it needs to be. It’s early in that process but I’ve been encouraged working with the CAF. . . . I think we’ve gotten some really strong interest and I would anticipate within the next couple months or so you’ll see some pledges rolling in.”
Tuition static, enrollment up
The Board of Trustees voted to not increase tuition again for the 2021-22 school year, as it did for 2020-21 during the coronavirus pandemic. There also will be no increase in meal or room and board fees.
CCU’s undergraduate in-state tuition is $11,640 per year, which is somewhat in the middle of the state’s public institutions, between USC Beaufort on the low end at $10,680 and Winthrop on the high end at $15,306.
After a drop in enrollment in 2020, Coastal looks to increase both incoming freshmen and transfer students in the fall compared to 2020.
Both incoming freshmen and transfer student applications, acceptance and deposits made to the university have increased over this time last year, according to the admissions office.
Freshman applications are up 9.8 % over 2020 to 15,131 as of early May, acceptances are up 23.5 % to 12,028 and deposits are up 28.8 % to 2,570.
The school anticipates 2,300 to 2,400 students in the incoming freshman class, which would be comparable to 2018 and 2019 numbers, according to Amanda Craddock, associate provost for enrollment management.
Transfer applications are up 12.8 % to 1,606, acceptances are up 13.1 percent to 810 and deposits are up 29.3 percent to 441.
“I’m very pleased with where we are with our students at this point and we’re looking for a positive fall semester for incoming students,” Craddock said.
In-state lagging behind
Coastal has a large imbalance of student applications from in-state students compared to out-of-state students, as there are 86.3 % more out-of-state freshman applications, 107% more freshman acceptances and 65% more freshman deposits.
Though the university’s bottom line improves with out-of-state enrollment because of the higher tuition, the university’s mission and obligation to the state as a public institution wanes with the declining in-state admissions.
In an attempt to increase the number of in-state students the school will move more than $300,000 from a degree-in-three (years) incentive program to aid for in-state students between their freshman and sophomore years. The degree-in-three program offers incoming freshmen a chance to register for a $5,000 payment upon graduation if they graduate in three years.
“If we’re not bringing in so many freshmen at the in-state rate, and perhaps that demographic trend that we can’t really address with admissions, we can keep more by trying to push more aid to those students who are on the edge of being able to come back but do have some financial jeopardy they can’t solve on their own,” Provost Daniel Ennis said. “If successful, the in-state retention rate will increase and that should compensate for the potential loss of in-state freshmen.”
Other CCU business
The administration is exploring taking up to $300,000 from the university’s pandemic Cares Act funding to create an incentive plan for students to receive COVID vaccinations.
Other capital projects on campus that are fully funded and moving forward are a $30 million library learning complex that has an estimated groundbreaking in January, a $10 million Kimbel Library renovation that is scheduled to soon be designed, and $5 million Eaglin Residence Hall renovation that is being done in phases and is expected to be completed in 2023.
Wyatt Henderson, chair of the Finance and Audit Committee, said the university will save $5.9 million with the refunding of some bonds, which was approved Thursday.
Henderson is one of three board members coming to the end of their terms. Henderson, Dan Moore and Sam Swad are being replaced on the board by former S.C. House of Representatives member Mark Kelley, orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Joe Jarrett, and Certified Public Accountant Brad Poston, a former CCU football player.
This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 1:10 PM.
