News and Press Releases for April 2006

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04/11/2006

Gov. Sanford Names Higher Education Task Force

Group to Examine Higher Ed System, Report on Recommend Statewide Plan

Columbia, S.C. - Governor Mark Sanford today named members to his South Carolina Higher Educational Task Force - including business representatives and higher education officials - and charged the Task Force with identifying concrete steps to reduce tuition, encourage more collaboration and reduce duplication. Gov. Sanford announced the creation of the Task Force earlier this year, largely in response to year after year of double-digit tuition increase at the state's colleges and universities.

"Though steps like capping tuition are important short-term solutions to force more collaboration in the higher educational system, we believe comprehensive higher educational restructuring is ultimately the long-term solution," Gov. Sanford said. "Recent tuition increases are largely a result of duplication and inefficiency within the higher educational system, and I think this group's work will go a long way toward showing the need for comprehensive change in the way our higher education system is governed."

Columbia attorney and former Chief Operating Officer for the University of South Carolina Lyles Glenn will chair the Task Force, which will report its findings later this year. Glenn said the group would focus on a number of areas, such as governance authority, business practices and apparent duplication within the system.

"The governor has appointed a broad-based group of individuals and we're eager to begin our work of examining the state's higher education system," Glenn said. "Working with the governor's office during the budget process showed that students in our state could be better served through a higher education system with strong oversight and effective means of coordination. I look forward to working with the CHE on this effort and reporting our findings to Governor Sanford."

Over the past 10 years, the average tuition at state higher education institutions has increased by 152 percent. Last year, the Higher Education Pricing Index increased by 3.5 percent, while the average tuition for four-year universities increased by 11.2 percent. Recent tuition increases for South Carolina are the highest among southeastern states. While some have argued the state's tuition increases are a result of inadequate state funding, South Carolina has the second-highest amount of higher education expenditures as a percent of total expenditures among Southeastern states. Nationwide, only six states dedicate a greater percentage of their budget to higher education than South Carolina.