Students focus on impact on tuition

Posted Friday, December 5, 2003 - 7:16 pm

By Ishmael Tate
STAFF WRITER
mailto:itate@greenvillenews.com

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Kayla Baker, in her second year at Winthrop University, worries that fewer people would be able to go to college if public universities become private.

"Colleges will have to find a way to replace the money it won't get from the state," said Baker, 19, who is studying music at the Rock Hill university.

Baker said she disagrees with Gov. Mark Sanford's suggestion that privatizing colleges and universities will keep tuition from spiking as it has in past years. Tuition goes up every year regardless of state cuts, she said.

South Carolina's tuition is 105 percent of the national average. North Carolinas tuition is 82 percent of the national average and Georgia's is 86 percent, Sanford said.

Winthrop is one of 13 state-supported colleges that would be able to become private and keep their taxpayer funded land and buildings.

Privatizing public colleges could have its advantages, said Greenville Technical College student John Spearman, 20,

"I think it's a good idea," he said. "Tuition is already steep and this might help." When he finishes a two-year degree at Greenville Tech, Spearman said he plans to finish his psychology degree at the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg, another school eligible to go private if Sanford's idea passes the state Legislature.

Next week, second-year business management student Margarita Martinez, 43, will meet with her advisor at Greenville Tech to talk about which four-year college she will attend.

"Going to Tech has been great for me. It's low-cost education," Martinez said. "If the public colleges are all private then not everyone will be able to attend."

Another second year Tech student, Stacey Evans, 19, said she worried that students who might have been admitted to public universities would be rejected by the private schools. Soon, she will have to decide which four-year college to attend.

Taxpayers want to know if their taxes would go down. Parents want to know what would happen to state funded scholarships.

Krystal Dunham, 22, a recent Winthrop graduate said she didn't see much difference between colleges being private or public.

"Tuition would still be too high," Dunham said.

Staff writer Ishmael Tate can be reached at 298-4020.

Friday, December 19