College giveaway would come with a price

e-mail this story Jeanne Brooks • Family secret from another time finally set free (12/28/03) • One of the best presents of all is hope for new year (12/24/03) • 'Tis the season to take a letter -- and hope (12/22/03) • Thurmond's secret daughter lived beyond spotlight (12/21/03) • They found him living like a cockroach (12/14/03)

State Sen. Verne Smith, R-Greer, bless him, said the idea didn't immediately appeal to him, but that he would keep an open mind. "I'd have to hear him explain the benefits."

"Him" being the governor.

The idea being this: Gov. Mark Sanford wants to make the commission that oversees higher education in South Carolina more powerful.

Then the commission could do things like shut down programs when it sees fit.

And, dear colleges and universities, if you don't like that prospect, the governor pretty much said, don't let the screen door hit you on your way out. Go be private.

Gov. Sanford noted a new study found South Carolina's higher education in need of greater efficiency and less duplication of programs.

The governor said his idea could save the state millions.

As a story in The Greenville News by John Boyanoski and Jason Zacher explained, the state Legislature would have to approve.

But here's the way things could go. Thirteen public colleges and universities would be offered the option to leave the state system. They'd become nonprofits.

They could keep all their real estate and buildings and equipment. They'd have to agree to a preferred tuition rate for South Carolinians.

Those that went private wouldn't get another state penny.

Wait a minute, you might say. The state pennies are what give a lot of people the chance of a college education.

The state pennies mean that tuition and fees at, for instance, Clemson University this year are $7,134 and not three times that much.

If there are fewer, maybe not near enough, public colleges and universities for the children of South Carolina who can't afford to pay $20,000 or more every year to a private school, what will happen to those young people?

How will they become doctors and architects and computer analysts? And if they can't become those things, what will they do instead? Nobody's lining up for textile jobs anymore.

And wasn't South Carolina supposed to jump with both feet into the knowledge-based economy? Remember the auto research park? The model for the future?

Who will work in places like that if a college education becomes something fewer can manage to pay for? College graduates imported from other states?

Not to mention, there's the issue of giving away what the public spent good money on. And the public's parents and grandparents.

With Clemson University alone we'd be giving away 1,445 prime acres on the main campus, with about 3 to 4 million square feet under roofs, according to the university's Web site.

Plus there's 17,000 acres of research farms and woodlands, and another 12,000 acres scattered around the state.

We've also invested in plenty of things like desks and photocopiers and lab equipment and salaries over the years.

Has anybody figured out how much all that adds up to? What if we give Clemson away and then discover to our horror we've made a terrible mistake?

How much will it cost to get everything back?

Noam Chomsky says "a public education system is based on the principle that you care whether the kid down the street gets an education."

Any kid, if he's smart and willing to work and save. That was the promise of public education.

Jeanne Brooks' column appears on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at (864) 298-4261.