State funding vital to University Center

The Greenville News
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
VOICES
The Greenville News Editorial

Recent budget recommendations from Governor Mark Sanford propose that the University Center of Greenville (UCG) receive no state appropriation in fiscal Year 2009-2010. Falling from $1.5 M in 2008-2009 to $0 in 2009-2010 is a loss of support that will force UCG to begin a two-year phase-out of all operations. In late February, the SC House of Representatives will complete its deliberations on the 2009-2010 State budget before moving that budget to consideration in the Senate. If funding for UCG is not reinstated, Greenville will eventually lose this valuable resource.

We would like to address several questions raised in recent community discussions about the University Center of Greenville:

  • Should the State pay for UCG? - The University Center of Greenville is a resource-sharing concept originally developed by universities in cooperation with the SC Commission on Higher Education (CHE) and the General Assembly. UCG was chartered by CHE in 1987 in the form of a partnership to resolve Greenville's lack of public higher education. The cost-effective alternative dramatically reduces the annual $20+ million financial burden of locating a regular university campus here.
  • Should the member institutions pick up the slack? - The support UCG receives from its seven member universities is vital to its operations. Since 2001, that support has increased tenfold to a projected $650,000 next year. Member universities' support will be maintained in 2009-2010 in spite of their own significant budget cuts, and in addition to paying for all instructional costs and campus staff costs at UCG.  Unfortunately, campus support alone is not sufficient to sustain UCG.
  • Should the students pay for their own tuition? - Some individuals have questioned if State funding is used to pay tuition for attending students. Actually, students at UCG do pay tuition for courses directly to the offering campus just as if they were at the campus location. A credit hour from Clemson or USC Upstate costs the same at UCG as a credit hour from Clemson or USC Upstate on campus. And students are responsible for that cost.
  • Should companies pay for their own employees' education? - Currently, about 15% of the students at UCG receive employer reimbursement for job-related education. That support covers tuition, but it does not cover overhead costs such as library services, technology, security, utilities and other operational costs. UCG was founded as partnership of the State and the universities to serve people in the Greenville community and to share the overhead costs of its operation. The State's funding commitment to provide cost-effective access through UCG should be maintained.
  • Should UCG increase tuition to cover the lack of state funding? - UCG does not charge tuition or other fees to students using its facilities. Those charges are paid directly to the partner universities.
  • Should students just commute to other campuses? - UCG serves adult students (average age 34) of whom 80% work full-time. These students are likely balancing numerous responsibilities, such as families, mortgages and possibly more than one job. To ask them to commute 35+ miles each way to the nearest public campus would prohibit a large portion of them from continuing their education. In difficult economic times, education opportunities have to be increased, not eliminated. According to a recent study by the Greenville Chamber, Greenville is 15% behind cities with which we compete in terms of the percent of its adult population holding the baccalaureate or higher degrees. Not having highly-educated talent lessens our appeal to companies looking to expand and bring new jobs here. Without UCG, we risk losing both private sector investment in Greenville, and driving our workforce to other cities to find accessible higher education opportunities.

UCG is a collaborative, cost-effective approach to higher education that brings the academic resources of seven South Carolina universities to one shared, convenient campus. Collaboration means both the sharing of physical space and programming support among the universities, and it means participation of those universities and the State in sharing the operational costs of UCG. Shared support enabled UCG to offer 78 degree programs serving more than 2,200 students in 2008.

In the current economic crisis, Greenville needs UCG more than ever. State funding is necessary to sustain UCG as a vital community resource; Greenville's educational future depends on it.