CHARLESTON, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford said Friday he wants more coordination of higher education in South Carolina and proposed that if colleges are uncomfortable with that, they can go private.

Sanford, speaking with reporters at The Citadel, said South Carolina duplicates programs in higher education that a state of 4 million people can't afford.

The state has 33 public institutions of higher learning and averages 105 percent of the national average for tuition. North Carolina is at 82 percent and Georgia at 86 percent, the governor said.

Sanford said he wants better coordination of spending scarce education dollars, whether strengthening the existing Commission on Higher Education, creating a board of regents or some similar body.

"If any institution ultimately feels uncomfortable with our push toward coordination, they can exit the system," said Sanford, who provided a list of 13 larger colleges and universities that would be eligible.

Under the proposal, such institutions would not receive state money and would be free of state regulation.

They would keep their buildings and land but would have to reorganize as not-for-profits and charge reduced tuition, as state schools now do, for South Carolina students.

Any such change would have to be approved by state lawmakers.

Sanford mentioned Clemson and The Citadel as schools receiving relatively small portions of their budgets from the state. About 22 percent of The Citadel's budget is state money as is 24 percent of Clemson's, spokeswomen for the schools said.

"Clemson is a public university in terms of its character, personality and values, not just in terms of its funding," said Clemson President Jim Barker.

He said Clemson officials have watched the debate about privatizing state universities in other states.

"Until we have done considerably more research, we cannot know if privatization would be the best way to serve the state, our students, alumni and other constituents," he added.

"This complex proposal will require comprehensive study and analysis by the university's administration and board of trustees," said Andrew Sorensen, president of the University of South Carolina.

Sorensen added the university "will never abandon its fundamental commitment to providing the highest possible educational opportunity to the largest possible number of qualified South Carolinians."

"The governor's proposal ... is very significant," said Citadel spokeswoman Charlene Gunnells. But she said more information is needed to evaluate the proposal and "as always we are concerned about the impact such a change would have on The Citadel family."

Sanford was asked if the plan would mean taxpayers would lose an investment they have made over the years in the colleges and universities deciding to go private.

"I don't think that they would lose the investment," he replied. "Clemson is not going anywhere. The physical plant that is in the Upstate will long remain in the Upstate ... and I'm not suggesting they would or would not want to do it."

He said the idea is that if the state pushes too hard for a coordinated system of higher education "there is a safety valve" for institutions who have a different vision.

Sanford was also asked whether only tuition should be considered in gauging the cost of education and not such things as increased costs in time and money for students to commute if programs are consolidated.

"I think any third-party study that looks at the number of institutions in South Carolina would say we're at the upper end, the far end of the bell curve on the number of institutions," he said. "And in many cases, the cost of having that additional physical plant, that additional administration duplicated 33 times across the state is expensive for the system."

Schools on the list include Clemson, South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina, South Carolina State, the College of Charleston, The Citadel, Winthrop, Francis Marion, Coastal Carolina, Lander, USC-Aiken, USC-Spartanburg and USC-Beaufort.