During a meeting of the state Budget and Control Board, the governor was quoted by The State newspaper as saying he wanted to see "dramatic change" in the higher ed system. The article noted that the governor neither confirmed nor denied that he wanted to close some of the schools, but did say that 33 is too many for a state with 4 million people.

At the least, the governor clearly doesn't want to see even more schools added to the system. He tried unsuccessfully, according to The State, to stop Coastal Carolina University at Conway from opening a satellite campus on Pawleys Island.

Too many lawmakers apparently are intent on continued higher education proliferation. During the last session, they came dangerously close to converting USC's regional campus at Sumter into a four-year university. The legislation was stopped in the Senate by an 11th-hour filibuster on another measure. That was particularly disturbing in view of a Legislative Audit Council report a few years ago that recommended the school be merged with a state technical education facility.

Of course, South Carolina native and Wall Street financier Darla Moore was right when she told the Legislature in an address some years ago that "we have too few dollars chasing too many school budgets." The fact is that the state's financial situation has dramatically worsened since she made that speech.

Gov. Sanford will be making his own speech to the General Assembly in January in which he will be more specific about what he has in mind for higher education. He has been an advocate of a new board of regents-type governing system. Unfortunately, we can already envision lawmakers donning their turf-protection gear. Instead, they need to show up with a willingness to spend the available higher ed dollars more wisely.