Lawmakers overlook CHE in expansion for USC-Sumter

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Commission on Higher Education wants to be included in the discussion about whether to make the University of South Carolina-Sumter campus a four-year college.

The plan already won Senate approval last month. If the House agrees, USC-Sumter will be granted authority to offer new degree programs without commission approval.

That prompted the commission, which regulates the state's 33 colleges and universities, to approve a resolution Tuesday saying it should not be skipped over.

"They have bypassed a process, which has been set up by the Legislature," said Conrad Festa, executive director of the commission. "It's their prerogative, they can do that. But it does confuse things."

Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, says it's always been up to the Legislature to decide.

USC President Andrew Sorensen has said the school lacks the academic standing to be a four-year school.

Leventis disagrees and said the expansion would benefit students and the community.

The Sumter two-year college doesn't offer a bachelor's degree program and now serves about 1,200 mostly nontraditional students who have been out of high school for years. The average student is 28 and attends only part-time.

"They can't just jump in the car and drive to Columbia," Leventis said.

Legislators have linked the Sumter program expansion with a mammoth higher education bill that promises regulatory relief and millions of dollars in construction money for the state's colleges.

Gov. Mark Sanford wants USC's two-year Salkehatchie and Union campuses shut down and favors USC-Sumter cutting expenses through more cooperation with a neighboring technical college.

"He simply doesn't believe that discussion should start by tacking it on at the last minute to an important economic development bill that's been in the works for over two years," the governor's spokesman Will Folks said. "Let's discuss USC-Sumter on its own merits."

"The governor absolutely supports the economic development component of the bill," Folks said.