COLUMBIA, SC — The University of South Carolina expects to start the $27 million renovation of three dorms in the Women’s Quad on time despite having to wait to win financing until days before that work is scheduled to begin.

A bond request by USC was pulled off the state Budget and Control Board’s agenda Tuesday after House Ways and Means chairman Brian White, R-Anderson, raised questions.

The budget board’s approval is the final hurdle needed for the project to modernize the freshmen women’s dorms, ranging age from 54 to 74 years.

The school says it is answering White’s questions about how its enrollment could be affected if the federal budget sequester leads to cuts in student financial aid.

But the board does not meet again until May 7 – the week when the Women’s Quad work is set to begin.

The 550-bed dorms – Sims, McClintock and Wade Hampton – are supposed to remain empty for the next school year and reopen in the fall 2014 with 50 additional beds.

USC chief financial officer Ed Walton initially expressed concern that not winning funding approval this week could delay the start of the 15-month project and jeopardize its completion date.

But contractors can start some work while the financing details are completed if the bonds are approved in May, Walton said Thursday.