|
Leventis says USC-Sumter is great community partner
Op-ed
by Sen. Phil Leventis in The Greenville News, 1/26/04
JAN. 26, 2004 -- You indicated in a recent editorial
that USC-Sumter should not be made into a four-year institution.
You used strong words, but I am certain you did not do your homework!
Have you visited USC-S lately?
USC-Sumter should be a four-year, degree-granting
institution because it will help Sumter and all of South Carolina.
It is a wise "investment" even though it will not cost
the state any additional money! That's right, no new money now
or in the foreseeable future to make this change.
Why? Because tuition will be increased to USC-Aiken
levels - currently a four-year institution - with the change.
This will make the transition cash-positive! If money is your
only concern, then your concerns are wrong and USC-Sumter granting
four-year degrees is right.
There will also be an additional infusion of local
money into USC-S with this transition to four-year status. Approximately
half a million dollars a year of local money will be invested
in this institution by the citizens of Sumter, Lee, Kershaw and
Clarendon counties. A proportional investment by local communities
for main campuses in our state would be $10 million a year. It
is my understanding, however, that only the branch campuses are
supported by local dollars. Why don't your editors examine that?
USC-Beaufort is moving to four-year status with
an investment of millions of local dollars. The money is required
because Beaufort must build a new campus. Here in Sumter, the
current facilities and professional staff are already capable
of producing the new programs to be offered.
Did you know that USC-S students have obtained almost
750 four-year degrees over the past 10 years through other campuses?
The demand for the services is already here and the services are
being delivered primarily by USC-S professors. Offering degrees
through other campuses, however, does not work well for our students.
And to your notion that the higher education system
in South Carolina is grossly overbuilt, compare us to North Carolina
or Georgia. We have one public college for every 124,000-plus
people in our state. North Carolina has one for every 113,000
and Georgia has one for every 107,000 people. South Carolina would
need five more colleges - 15 percent more - to have as many schools
per capita as Georgia!
And enhancing USC-Sumter's role is not adding another
college! In contemporary terms, it is "right-sizing it."
This proposal has been years in the making. It is
well planned and we are ready to make USC-S more productive for
the people of this state. When USC-Florence, Aiken, Spartanburg
and Coastal were made four-years, the state profited. These were
positive moves that were supported by the people of Sumter. When
the College of Charleston was made a part of the university system
of our state, good things happened. Now that USC-Beaufort is transitioning
to four-year status, advancements will be made in that area. The
same good things will happen here in Sumter. All we ask is that
we be judged on practical matters and the facts, not some theory
or academic elitism.
Your editorial position seems to say that our state
will be better off if we have fewer people educated. I hope you
don't mean that. I hope you don't support the regressive notion
of closing USC-Union and campuses in Allendale and Walterboro.
These institutions serve almost 100 percent in-state students
who are typically nontraditional students. If these students -
who at USC-S average 26 years of age - don't get an education
near their places of work and their homes, they simply will not
get it. This is a terrible waste for all the people of our state.
Why is it that editors in Greenville know more about
Sumter than those of us who have lived, worked and invested in
Sumter for many years? We are excited about progress and development
in the Upstate. We support and encourage your progress because
all South Carolinians benefit. We would invite you to come see
the great things we are doing here in Sumter and why they make
sense and will make dollars for all of South Carolina. This, among
other things, includes making USC-Sumter a four-year college.
|
