| These institutions have lost more than 40 percent of their state funding since 2008, and that trend isn’t expected to change anytime soon.
Across the country, subsidies for public higher education institutions have actually hit a 10-year low. This means students for the first time are paying, on average, half or more of their education’s cost, according to the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit social science research organization.
Our state is just one of three that have reduced per-student funding in higher education by more than 40 percent since the start of the recession. That’s a daunting reality because of the role higher education plays in being an economic engine for our state.
According to the University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business, each state dollar invested in higher education could boost the state’s annual economic activity more than 25-fold.
Additionally, if 29 percent of the population were to hold bachelor’s degrees by 2030, it would mean $6.9 billion in new annual personal income, $7.8 billion in gross state product and nearly 45,000 additional permanent jobs each year, according to the Moore School of Business. There’s a clear link between higher education, workforce development and economic strength.
Unfortunately, South Carolina employers are having a difficult time finding people with the skills they need to fill all of their job openings.
The University of South Carolina study also predicts the state could face a major shortfall of more than 114,000 college-educated workers, including two-year and four-year degrees, by 2030.
These businesses can’t find employees who fit the technical competencies or skills for jobs. That’s a case of South Carolina not fitting the needs of its businesses.
The state must change course on this issue.
Continuing on this path would be an economic disaster. Such a skills-versus-jobs gap means business will start to look elsewhere when it comes to locating in our state.
Additionally, this lack of funding for higher education handcuffs the ability of colleges and universities to attract and admit new students, forces tuition to increase and clearly places a financial burden on South Carolina students and their families.
Putting higher education out of reach for South Carolinians is a step backward rather than a step forward.
State lawmakers should put forth a concerted effort to embrace greater funding for the state’s college and universities before our state is put in a worse economic bind. |