Monday, November 12, 2018

As Debates Over College Costs Make Waves in South Carolina, It’s Time to Boost Need-Based Aid Nationwide - Rachel Gentry, Center for American Progress

College affordability has been a highly debated topic in South Carolina this year. Tuition costs have increased 11 percent since the 2010-11 school year and 47 percent since the 2004-05 school year at public four-year institutions. In the spring, the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education hosted town hall meetings that drew standing-room-only crowds of parents, students, and small-business owners voicing discontent about soaring tuition prices. Commission Chairman Tim Hofferth has called the inflating budgets of public universities “the next billion-dollar crisis in South Carolina,” brought on, he argues, by bloated staff, increasing construction debt, and other irresponsible spending. University officials, on the other hand, blame low state appropriations for driving up tuition. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-postsecondary/news/2018/11/02/460362/debates-college-costs-make-waves-south-carolina-time-boost-need-based-aid-nationwide/