House budget panel votes to close SC State for two years

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — A S.C. House budget panel voted Tuesday to close S.C. State University for two years to help the school end its 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 shows the frustration that S.C. State was not doing enough to recover its financial footing, said Rep. Jim Merrill, a Berkeley Republican who heads the panel.

House budget writers said they were frustrated the school sought $6 million from lawmakers this year to pay off a state loan given last year.

S.C. State also is receiving another $12 million from the state to help with crisis. S.C. State leaders said they could not cut curriculum, faculty or athletics, Merrill said.

Then administrators suggested $50 million in new funding over the next few years to improve the school’s academic programs.

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Subcommittee South Carolina State University Proviso:

19.so. (SCSU: Suspend Operations) For Fiscal Year 2015-16, all operations and programs of the South Carolina State University shall be suspended as of July 1, 2015. It is the intent of the General Assembly that all athletic programs shall be suspended, the president shall be terminated, faculty and staff shall be dismissed, and the board of trustees shall be terminated. The university shall remain closed for one year during which time the Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee will establish a plan to reconstitute South Carolina State University by January 1, 2017; to re-hire necessary faculty, reconstitute athletic programs, and set curriculum to be offered as approved by the Commission on Higher Education so that applications for the 2017-18 school year can be accepted and the school year can begin in the fall of 2017.

The State of South Carolina shall assume all debt and pay off all outstanding bonded indebtedness, debt to vendors, and loans made from the Contingency Reserve Fund. To effectuate this payment the Executive Budget Office, in conjunction with the Comptroller General shall utilize the General Funds appropriated to the institution along with any other funds the institution carried forward from the prior fiscal year. The order in which outstanding debt shall be paid is as follows: vendors, then bonded indebtedness, then Contingency Reserve Fund.

Current South Carolina State University students who have a 2.5 GPA or higher and qualify to transfer to another in-state public institution or South Carolina historically black university, shall have their tuition paid for by the State of South Carolina, for up to four years from this date. All lottery scholarships and federal assistance currently awarded to the student shall be factored into the amount of tuition paid for by the State of South Carolina. If the student falls below a 2.5 GPA during any of the remaining semesters, the tuition shall be terminated and the school may dismiss the student at its discretion.

The Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee must submit the entire plan to the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee before final approval by the General Assembly.