USC, Clemson froze in-state tuition in 2020. So why do they cost $8K more a year now?
Since 2019, the South Carolina General Assembly has sent the state’s public colleges and universities additional money each year in exchange for a promise to hold tuition flat for in-state students.
The arrangement has ensured that Palmetto State residents pay no more for classes at Clemson or Carolina today than they did six years ago, even as in-state tuition rates nationally have increased nearly 14%, or about $1,500, over the same period.
But some lawmakers suspect that universities have jacked up other costs to offset the tuition money they’re leaving on the table. Student housing and dining costs are rising, and the imposition of mandatory new athletics fees at both Clemson and USC in recent years has only magnified concerns.
“While we have been contributing taxpayer dollars to mitigate tuition, the universities, on an annual basis, have systemically been increasing the cost of housing for living on campus, and they’ve been raising meal plan costs,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said during a debate on the issue last month. “And when you require students to live on campus, and then you require students who live on campus to purchase meal plans, you are effectively raising those costs for a lot of your students.”
Both Clemson and USC now estimate that an in-state undergraduate who lives on campus will spend about $40,000 annually, all-inclusive. That’s about $8,000 more than the same student would have spent six years ago, despite the fact tuition hasn’t budged.
“From a parent’s perspective, if you’re paying the bill, it doesn’t matter whether you’re telling me it’s tuition or a mandatory cost,” Massey said. “It’s all coming out of the same pocket.”
A spokesman for the University of South Carolina said the state’s flagship school had not raised other costs to get around the tuition freeze.
He said USC’s program fees had not increased since the General Assembly launched its tuition mitigation effort, and that any hikes in housing and dining costs were attributable to inflation or contractual obligations with third-party providers.
“The increase in housing and meals are not to make up for tuition,” USC spokesman Jeff Stensland wrote in an emailed statement, adding that students pay no more than the average U.S. consumer for either commodity, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Clemson did not respond to a request for comment on the university’s rising costs.
Is inflation really to blame?
While Massey acknowledged that higher prices are a reality across the country, he said he was skeptical that inflation alone accounted for the increased cost of attendance.
“Food may cost more depending on what you’re buying,” he said. “But I would bet anything that the fees they’re charging exceed the increased cost of their food.”
A look at inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, shows the senator may be on to something
Since the 2019-2020 school year, the combined annual cost of housing, meals and books at the University of South Carolina has increased more than $4,300, budget documents show. That’s roughly $718 per year on average, or about $206 more per year than inflation alone would predict, an analysis by The State found.
At Clemson, where comparable data is only available for the past three years, non-tuition costs have increased by $1,982 since the 2022-2023 school year. That’s about $661 per year on average, or roughly $254 more per year than the cost of inflation.
So does that mean South Carolina’s largest public universities are gouging students to offset the legislatively-directed tuition freeze? Not necessarily.
According to historical budget data, the University of South Carolina has long raised the cost of housing, dining and books faster than the rate of inflation.
In fact, non-tuition costs spiked about 29% between fiscal years 2013-2014 and 2019-2020, when inflation was just 9.7%. That’s a greater increase, relative to inflation, than the 36% non-tuition costs increased between fiscal years 2019-2020 and 2025-2026, when inflation was 25.7%, budget documents show.
Fees, on the other hand, do appear to have increased more at USC in the past six years than in the preceding six-year period.
The $300 annual athletics auxiliary fee, introduced last year to extend student access and enhance student experience across USC sporting venues, represented the first mandatory fee increase since the 2017-2018 school year, according to USC budget documents.
While the university added two new fees and raised three other fees between the 2013-2014 and 2019-2020 academic years, the total impact of those increases was only $102 per year, records show.