College: It's Better Than You May Think



Tuesday’s editorial takes a deeper look at the S.C. Policy Council’s recent report on the state’s higher education:

After last week’s front-page story about the South Carolina Policy Council’s latest report on state colleges, it’s worth looking a little closer at some of the numbers specific to Coastal Carolina University.

While some of our state’s colleges, as the Prepared in Mind and Resources report said, may indeed be spending their money on “misplaced priorities” and may also be run by trustees who don’t bother to seek “ways to measure and improve academic quality,” CCU, on the contrary, doesn’t fall into either category.

In fact, our local university comes out pretty darn well in the comparison with other large public colleges in the state. One beef the report’s writers had with schools was with institutions that began spending less of their budgets on instruction even while spending a larger share on school administration. Such was the case at South Carolina State and USC-Aiken over the six-year period studied, for example. But at CCU, these two portions of their budget followed roughly the same track, showing a school keeping its priorities straight and in the classroom.

Another complaint of the report’s writers was that many school trustees are out of touch. They simply delegate their appointed tasks to others, then rubber stamp decisions that came from school administrators. Not so at Coastal. The report specifically notes that “At Coastal Carolina University, trustees are deeply engaged in program review and do not delegate that function.”

But the over-arching worry of the report’s writers came down to cost. Tuition is rising faster than inflation and “families are being asked to pay more and more of their hard-earned dollars” for an education the writers find questionable. Not so on the Strand.

There’s no question that CCU has raised its tuition in recent years. For in-state students, it’s up about 28 percent over what it was just four years ago. But it should be noted that financial aid and scholarships are also increasing, and faster than tuition. Over the same four years, financial assistance for students grew 58 percent. While the sticker price grows each year, more and more discounts are being used to drop the out-of-pocket price.

And while the Policy Council complains about the low percentage of students who graduate from state colleges within four years -- just 22 percent at CCU, it reported -- the number is misleading at best. It counts only those students who began as freshmen and attended CCU for all of their schooling, ignoring both the many transfer students who finish their school years at CCU and those who leave CCU to graduate at other schools.

In fact, a look at the four-year period between 2007 and 2011 shows some much more impressive numbers. In 2007, the school enrolled 1,652 new freshmen. If we take this latest report at face value, we should expect only 363 to graduate four years later. But in fact, in the 2010-2011 school year the school conferred 1,379 undergraduate degrees. Undoubtedly some of those degrees went to students who began earlier than 2007 or who transferred to CCU after beginning their college career elsewhere, but it clearly demonstrates a school that is doing much better than graduating 22 percent of those who begin.

While the Policy Council likely hoped that its report on the “real concern” it has about our state’s schools would leave us worried and anxious, we leave it instead more sure than ever of the fine job our educators are doing at CCU and encouraged that our faith in the institution has not been misplaced.

 

In fact, our local university comes out pretty darn well in the comparison with other large public colleges in the state. One beef the report’s writers had with schools was with institutions that began spending less of their budgets on instruction even while spending a larger share on school administration. Such was the case at South Carolina State and USC-Aiken over the six-year period studied, for example. But at CCU, these two portions of their budget followed roughly the same track, showing a school keeping its priorities straight and in the classroom.

Another complaint of the report’s writers was that many school trustees are out of touch. They simply delegate their appointed tasks to others, then rubber stamp decisions that came from school administrators. Not so at Coastal. The report specifically notes that “At Coastal Carolina University, trustees are deeply engaged in program review and do not delegate that function.”

But the over-arching worry of the report’s writers came down to cost. Tuition is rising faster than inflation and “families are being asked to pay more and more of their hard-earned dollars” for an education the writers find questionable. Not so on the Strand.

There’s no question that CCU has raised its tuition in recent years. For in-state students, it’s up about 28 percent over what it was just four years ago. But it should be noted that financial aid and scholarships are also increasing, and faster than tuition. Over the same four years, financial assistance for students grew 58 percent. While the sticker price grows each year, more and more discounts are being used to drop the out-of-pocket price.

And while the Policy Council complains about the low percentage of students who graduate from state colleges within four years -- just 22 percent at CCU, it reported -- the number is misleading at best. It counts only those students who began as freshmen and attended CCU for all of their schooling, ignoring both the many transfer students who finish their school years at CCU and those who leave CCU to graduate at other schools.

In fact, a look at the four-year period between 2007 and 2011 shows some much more impressive numbers. In 2007, the school enrolled 1,652 new freshmen. If we take this latest report at face value, we should expect only 363 to graduate four years later. But in fact, in the 2010-2011 school year the school conferred 1,379 undergraduate degrees. Undoubtedly some of those degrees went to students who began earlier than 2007 or who transferred to CCU after beginning their college career elsewhere, but it clearly demonstrates a school that is doing much better than graduating 22 percent of those who begin.

While the Policy Council likely hoped that its report on the “real concern” it has about our state’s schools would leave us worried and anxious, we leave it instead more sure than ever of the fine job our educators are doing at CCU and encouraged that our faith in the institution has not been misplaced.