Improving higher education in South Carolina will require a better allocation of limited resources as well as some difficult cuts in the state's over extended system of colleges and universities. In his proposed budget, Gov. Mark Sanford is continuing his campaign for higher ed economies, including the eventual elimination of two University of South Carolina campuses. The Legislature should follow his lead, not move in the opposite direction as it did last year.

So far, the governor has been unable to overcome legislative parochialism in his attempt to eventually cut campuses at Union and Salkahatchie as a drain on the system. To his credit, he continues the effort in his budget plan.

"The [cost of] operation and maintenance of these universities continues to increase even though enrollment is decreasing compared to other nearby colleges and universities," the governor wrote in the budget. Students attending the colleges could "access existing larger campuses in nearby communities."

Savings from the campus closings could be used for need-based scholarships for students who otherwise might not have an opportunity to attend college, he wrote.

Gov. Sanford urges more consolidation among universities, citing the merger of pharmacy schools at USC and the Medical University of South Carolina. That collaboration is expected to save $2 million a year.

Similarly, he recommends cutting degree programs that aren't used by a sufficient number of students to justify their existence. There are, for example, two students at USC majoring in European Studies.

The governor also recommends eliminating funds for contract lobbyists employed by eight universities, further urging the Legislature to approve a bill sponsored by Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, to eliminate the use of contract lobbyists by state agencies generally. Not only is the expense unwarranted, but lobbyists have been able to persuade the Legislature to increase expenses for their clients that aren't justified.

The governor's higher ed budget recognizes that the state spends too much money maintaining 33 public colleges and universities, while allowing tuition for those institutions to rise to a level of 120 percent of the national average.

Gov. Sanford observed that the growth of state colleges "has happened with the intent of making higher education more accessible to everyone in the state." But, he added, "the unintended consequence is that the higher tuitions needed to sustain our inefficient system of under-utilized campuses has actually made higher education less accessible to many."

Last year, the legislative response to the governor's proposals to streamline higher ed was to expand two colleges in an economic development bill. (Those ill-advised bobtails are among those being challenged in court.)

Meanwhile, the governor has abandoned his effort to create a board of regents with authority over the state higher ed system, recognizing it can't overcome the institutional and legislative opposition.

Instead, he has proposed a less drastic but needed change in direction. The diffusion of resources has diminished the effectiveness of higher education, and keeps it from reaching a level of excellence that should be the goal of the state and the system.