10 new things at USC this fall

Redrawn shuttle routes, more shuttles during peak traffic times and a new app to track them await as more than 31,000 University of South Carolina students return to Columbia over the next week.

The state’s flagship university has overhauled its shuttle system for this fall as part of an overall effort to change how students move around campus.

The goal? Fewer cars.

Officials say the redrawn shuttle routes will be more efficient.

The school will rotate in more shuttles between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. to shorten students’ wait at stops. USC also will debut a new phone app, called Transloc, that tracks shuttles in real time.

“It’ll make it a lot easier about timing your trips around campus,” USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said.

USC officials hope students start making those trips more on foot, bikes or shuttles – anything but cars. The number of parking spots has declined – and the price of those spots has jumped – over the past few years as the school has worked toward creating a more pedestrian-friendly campus.

The school also expects demand for shuttles to increase as more student housing options pop up on and near campus.

“The real problem is when students try to get parking right down by their classroom. That’s just not always going to be a possibility,” Stensland said. “We really want to discourage that. We want to create an environment where people park their car and leave it. … We want to discourage lots of vehicular traffic to and from classes.”

Returning students will find a host of other changes around USC this fall. Here are a few:

Tuition is up

It is a fact of life for college students across the country – however painful.

USC trustees this summer approved a 3.25 percent tuition hike for the 2016-17 school year. That was the school’s largest hike in five years, though it is in line with tuition increases at other four-year S.C. public colleges.

Undergraduates from South Carolina will pay $11,855 for tuition during the upcoming academic year, $373 more than in 2015-16. Out-of-state students will pay $31,283, up $985 from last year.

USC has raised tuition every year since 1987.

USC is crawling with Pokemon

Pokemon Go’s release over the summer has taken the country by storm, and USC’s downtown Columbia campus is no exception.

The university’s grounds, and especially its historic Horseshoe, are loaded with PokeStops – where users of the augmented reality app can score experience points and stock up on items.

Expect to see plenty of students walking to class like zombies, their faces glued to phones. (And be prepared to help them up after the inevitable trip on a Horseshoe brick.)

The Gamecocks have a new football coach

After last season’s 3-9 disaster, a new face in charge of USC’s football team is reason enough for optimism.

Former Florida head coach Will Muschamp accepted the job in December, so this fall with be the first since 2004 that legendary head ball coach Steve Spurrier does not pace the USC sidelines.

Parking fees are up

USC students will pay $80 more to park in the school’s garages over the next year, bringing the total price of a garage spot to $800.

Students also must pay $10 more to park in the school’s surface lots, bringing the cost to $110 a year now. But those spots are highly sought and not guaranteed.

The hikes are not only for students. Faculty and staff rates are rising as well.

More housing pops up around campus

Two years ago, it was the Hub on Main Street. Last year, Greene Crossing, Pulaski Square, 612 Whaley and 650 Lincoln Phase One all opened their doors.

This fall, several more student housing options will open close to campus.

▪ The 297-bed 650 Lincoln Phase Two dorm has opened on campus, near Colonial Life Arena.

▪ Park Place, a 640-bed apartment building, has opened at the corner of Blossom and Huger streets.

▪ The 660-bed Station at Five Points has opened at the corner of Gervais and Harden streets.

Students also have new options of market-rate apartments in the Palmetto Compress building at 612 Devine St. or across the Congaree River at Tremont Apartments in Cayce.

Greek fees are up

Starting this fall, USC’s fraternity and sorority members will pay an additional $250 fee each year to help the school build a 1,200-space, Greeks-only parking garage nearby.

But the garage will not open for another two years, meaning some students will be required to pay hundreds of dollars for a garage they will never park in.

A chance to avoid the Greek Village traffic

USC is aware of the meal-time traffic and parking snarls around Greek Village, and officials hope a new park-and-ride option will help.

This fall, fraternity and sorority members can park for free in the grass lot at the corner of Blossom and Williams streets, the tailgating lot for Founders Park, and then shuttle over to Greek Village and back for meals.

The Horseshoe got a facelift

USC gave its finest aesthetic asset a $17,600 makeover. The historic Horseshoe, where students often lounge between classes, has been resodded with new zoysia grass.

A USC spokesman said the Horseshoe had become “overrun with weeds” and “was not matching the character of the centerpiece of campus.”

Students can ride the COMET

There’s hope for freshmen who leave their cars at home – or don’t own them at all.

First-year students now will have unlimited free access to Columbia’s COMET bus system, allowing them to leave campus without hailing a taxi or bugging a friend.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 11:10 AM with the headline "10 new things at USC this fall."