Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Inside This Issue Tod\y s Weather I- • « Etcetera looks at local eateries This Week: Cloudy with highs in the 80s and 90s. Page 6 vol. 93, no. 95 University of South Carolina Www.gamecock.sce Students face another tuition increase by Steven Drummond Staff Writer The University of South Carolina Board of Trustees decided in June to approve a $627.8 million budget for the 2000-2001 academic year. The budget includes a tuition increase for all stu dents. Under the new budget, tuition for S.C. res ident undergraduates will be $1,884 per semes ter, or $3,768 per academic year. Tuition for non resident undergraduates will be $1,990 per semester, or $3,980 per year. This is an increase of 3.5 percent. This increase includes $49 for educational and general expenses and $15 to support con struction of the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center. The board also raised the one-time matriculation fee for freshman students from $25 to $50. Graduate Students from South Carolina will see their tuition rise 5 percent, and non-resident graduate tuition will rise by 6.5 percent. A 5 percent increase is planned for all stu dents attending the USC School of Medicine, and tuition for the USC Law School will rise 5.8 percent. John Finan, vice president of Finance and Administration at USC, says the increase in tu ition really isn’t generating a lot of new money for the University. “What we have to realize is that this increase isn’t doing a whole lot more than covering in flation,” Finan said. “This is also the lowest in crease among all the Southeastern Conference schools.” He also said this was the seventh consecu tive year that the increase in tuition has been in accordance with the Higher Education Price In dex. Price indexes like the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI) allow colleges and universities to document inflation and secure additional fund ing to offset future cost. Dr. Kent Halstead of Research Association of Washington developed the HEPI. It measures the average relative price level of prices for goods and services purchased by post-secondary insti tutions through current educational and general expenditures. HEPI is based upon salaries of college per sonnel; contracted services, such as data pro cessing, communication, transportation mate rials and supplies, maintenance and equipment. The data is collected from a variety of sources. The American Association of University Pro fessors, College and University Personnel Asso-' ciation, and U.S. Consumer Price Index infor mation from the Bureau of Labor and Statis tics. USC President, John Palms told trustees that the new budget leaves many University needs without funding. “We continue to face urgent financial chal lenges as an institution because of the levels of state appropriations we receive,” Palms said. “But the care and rigor with which we assess our financial situation has enabled us to mini mize tuition increases and at the same time to invest in a focused way in the University’s core educational and research goals,” he said. State funding accounts for about 40 per cent of the University budget. Tuition increas es-will go into effect in the fall. USC sees slight decline in new fall enrollments by Chris Shurburtt Staff Writer USC predicts a decline in enrollment for the second consecutive academic year for its Colum bia campus. In the fall of 1999, USC Columbia had 15,551 undeigraduate students, compared to 15,907 in the fall of 1998. On the graduate and professional level, USC had 7,879 students in the fall of 1999, compared to 9,333 in the fall of 1998. Graduate and Professional School enrollment on the Columbia campus has declined by nearly 2,700 students since the fall of 1995. However, graduate and professional schools nationwide are becoming more selective. Undeigraduate enrollment last increased in the fall of 1998, when the Columbia campus had 15,907 students, as compared to 15,828 in the fall of 1997. The decline in enrollment is in part due to the fact that USC Columbia is becoming more selec tive in its admission process. "I think that we can anticipate a smaller fresh man class than in years past,” said Char Davis, di rector of undeigraduate admissions. She added that this necessarily isn't a bad thing for the University. “The faculty initiative is to improve quality, rather than increasing size,” she said. Barbara Blaney, University registrar, stated that her office wasn't expecting a massive drop-off in enrollment in the coming year. “The enrollment has been gradually declin ing for a number of years,” Blaney said. “Maybe we are becoming more selective with our students.” Blaney also did not guarantee that we would see a decline in enrollment in 2000-01. “It remains to be seen” she said. “We will do a head count in October.” Blaney also added that a larger number of stu dents graduated in 1999-2000 than in years past. Under the leadership of Dr. John Palms, the University has increased its efforts to attract not only the top students in the state but also from across the nation. Although 84 percent of the student body still hails from South Carolina, according to Davis some recipients of the prestigious McNair Scholarship have come from as far away as Montana and Cal ifornia. The McNair Scholarship was donated by USC alum, Texas businessman and NFL franchise owner Robert McNair. It is awarded to students who compete on a na tional level academically. “With the prestige of the Honors College and the McNair Scholars program, students are now considering USC right along with Duke or Emory,” Enrollment seepage3 Wednesday night coup — Sean Rayford Photo Editor WUSC DJ Eric Hess uses turntables and discs to provide music for Art Bar patrons during The Coup, a weekly Wednesday night gathering dedicated to “electronica” music. Hess is the host of the WUSC radio show “The Revolution,” Wednesday nights from 6 to 9 p.m_ Every week following- his show, Hess and several guest DJs provide music for the club.