Wednesday, June 12, 2002

South Carolina Universities Scramble to Save Technology Plans as Appropriations Shrink By DAN CARNEVALE Facing state budget cuts, some universities in South Carolina plan to increase their tuition to ensure that they can both continue to upgrade their technological capabilities and save other programs. South Carolina is cutting $70.8-million from higher-education spending in the 2003 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The cuts mean public colleges will receive 9 percent less from the state than they did this year. For some universities, tuition increases are the only way to maintain academic quality, education officials say. In spite of the state's budget cuts, the eight-campus University of South Carolina system is hoping to expand its information-technology capabilities by improving network connectivity and purchasing better equipment. Russ McKinney, director of public affairs for the university, says the technology expansion is part of an overall plan to improve the quality of education. "A certain part of that, in this day in time, is the technology aspect of it," he says. A January report by faculty members and administrators at the university recommended spending more on technology. The report said the spending increases would be of an "undetermined size." But with $20.9-million cut from the state budget for the university's campuses -- an 8.6-percent drop -- the university is scrambling to find other revenue sources to pay for the report's recommendations. "We're committed to implementing as many of the recommendations as possible," Mr. McKinney says. "That puts a lot of pressure on us to raise tuition." At Clemson University, freshmen in the two largest colleges and some sophomores will be required to own laptop computers this fall. The university is still setting up the institutional-support and wireless capabilities that are needed to serve the students. But the university will receive $10-million less for academic spending than the $115-million it received last year, says Cathy Sams, chief public-affairs officer at Clemson. The result will most likely be a 10- to 15-percent tuition increase, Ms. Sams says. The current tuition is $5,090 for an in-state, full-time student and $11,284 for an out-of-state, full-time student. Without the tuition increase, the university might not be able to pay for the laptop technology and other programs, Ms. Sams says. "We did manage to set aside some money, but I'm sure it's not enough," she says. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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