Controversial loan from University of South Carolina part of remedy
Orangeburg, S.C.
Four years of operating in the red finally
forced South Carolina State University to borrow $2.1 million from
another state institution. But it appears the historically Black
institution may be able to avoid that problem next year.
SCSU has reorganized and laid-off twenty-six employees.
Additionally, almost twenty employees have also been reassigned to
other positions at the university. Add an 8 percent increase in student
fees to the equation, and the institution possibly could be looking at
a financial surplus by the end of next year.
The money to repay the loan is in the 1998-99 budget, which was
approved last month by the university’s Board of Trustees. The increase
in tuition and fees should cost in-state students an additional $250
per semester to attend the 102-year-old institution.
“Based on the university’s cost cutting measures, and with the
inclusion of additional revenues, the end of the 98-99 fiscal year may
show a $400,000 budget surplus,” said S.C. State President Leroy Davis
Jr. “If so, it will be the first time m four years that S.C. State will
end a fiscal year with a balanced budget.”
To meet its year-end payroll, SCSU requested the appropriation from
the state General Assembly and asked permission to enter into a loan
with a local bank. Then in June, the state’s Budget and Control Board
requested $2.1 million from the University of South Carolina (SCU), a
state agency that had a budget surplus.
“It is important to note that never at any time in this process did
S.C. State approach or ask USC to provide funds to cover the
university’s budget deficit,” Davis said.
