Record enrollment, research awards and fundraising. How USC dreams big | Opinion
A higher education financial bubble has burst for dozens of major American universities that have found themselves implementing hiring freezes, spending cuts, faculty buyouts and academic program or course reductions while also increasing borrowing, and in some situations, raising tuition.
Approaching its 225th anniversary in 2026, the University of South Carolina is moving in the opposite and right direction. The state’s flagship university enjoys growing enrollment numbers and conservative budgeting that is cultivating a new era of excellence for students, while developing new ideas and technologies that improve South Carolina and the world.
Dating back to 2017-18, the USC board that I chair approved savings measures that enable us to fully pay for large academic projects such as a new medical school and research building in Columbia’s fast-growing BullStreet District with a mix of cash reserves and state support.
While other institutions are freezing hiring, we have been recruiting and hiring 100 new faculty in Columbia during the past two years, strengthening the core of the university that benefits our students and further develops our transformative, innovative research.
Because the university is so well-positioned today, we are free to dream big. We are moving forward with more major projects in our “USC Next” comprehensive facility master plan that enhance academic and student life.
These projects include building a new STEM academic center that increases space for teaching high-demand fields; remodeling the Russell House student union with additional dining options; reimagining the Thomas Cooper library as a modern study and gathering space; and developing new housing that meets the needs of students.
USC also has the funds to build its most ambitious project ever — a highly specialized neurological hospital and rehabilitation center that is the first of its kind in the Southeast. We want to thank the General Assembly and Gov. Henry McMaster for their support of this life-changing hospital in a state long considered a “neurology desert.”
This will be the largest single state-funded project in the history of higher education in South Carolina, and we are grateful that our leaders are entrusting this project to us.
We are doing all of this while admitting and enrolling more South Carolinians than ever. The number of incoming South Carolina freshmen this fall will surpass 4,000 for the first time in university history, up by 86% in the past decade.
We continue to make college accessible and affordable. In-state freshmen at all of USC’s campuses this fall are paying the same tuition rate as their counterparts did in 2019.
USC was first in the state to offer guaranteed admission for South Carolina students ranked in the top 10% of their high school classes, and we will cover tuition costs to those high-performing students whose households earn less than $80,000 a year.
The university is showing strength in attracting funding for research and new projects.
USC is coming off a third-straight record year in research awards spurred by our work on cutting-edge batteries and life-changing brain health care.
The university’s fundraising also surpassed a record with $260 million raised, bolstered by two of the school’s largest-ever gifts. Those investments, totaling more than $100 million, benefit the university’s College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering and Computing by creating new high-demand academic programs and supporting research start-ups.
And we’re not done.
We have a strong administration under the leadership of President Michael Amiridis, talented teaching faculty, stellar researchers and a wonderful staff that, when aligned with the board of trustees and state leaders, puts USC in an excellent position to grow and firmly establish our place among the preeminent institutions in the world, while primarily serving South Carolinians.
Thad H. Westbrook is chairman of the University of South Carolina board of trustees.