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Hodges unveils plan for spending lottery funds Plan includes $135.8 million for scholarships BY KEVIN FELLNER AND BRANDON UARRABEE THE OAMBCCCK LrOttery revenues would be de voted to'scholarships, endowed chairs and school buses under Gov. Jim Hodges’ plan. Hodges included the blueprint for how to spend the lottery’s projected $210 million in revenues in his 2002 2003 budget, released last week. The plan comes out with less than a year left until South Carolinians go to the polls to vote in this year’s gubernatorial elec tion. After finally seeing the cen terpiece of his 1998 campaign be come a reality, Hodges will wait to see whether the lottery’s effects convince voters he has achieved his goal to “focus like a laser beam on improving our schools.” Under the governor’s proposal, $135.8 million would be used for scholarships, which were the main benefit Hodges and other lot tery supporters used in support of the lottery during the 2000 refer endum campaign. “The people of South Carolina voted in favor of a lottery as a means of reducing the cost of . * > higher education in South Carolina,” Hodges writes. “South Carolinians should not be dis couraged from pursuing higher education due to unaffordable tu ition rates.” The funds include $61 million to provide free tuition for all South Carolina residents in two-year in stitutions of higher learning. “The world economy in which we compete requires that we move from a K-12 to a K-14 education system,” Hodges writes. An additional $53.1 million would go toward enhancing the state’s two major scholarship funds and create a third. Under the plan, LIFE scholarships would increase from $3,000 to free tuition plus $300. Hodges said the maxi mum benefit from the plan could come to $5,000. The plan would al locate $4.1 million to create a new scholarship for entering freshmen who have B averages but don’t qualify for LIFE. An additional $4 million would be used to raise the Palmetto Scholarship awards to $7,000. Those plans are modeled after Georgia’s state lottery, according to Hodges spokeswoman Cortney Owings. “The Georgia lottery has been a tremendous success at creating more education opportunities for Georgia’s residents,” she said. V Owings said South Carolina’s size wouldn’t keep the state from raising enough money to run a Georgia-styled program. “No state is too small to find ways to make higher education more accessible to more of its citi zens,” She said. Hodges would also increase needs-based grants and tuition grants by a total of $16 million. And the governor suggests us ing $40 million for endowed chairs at the state’s research universities. “It is gaining widespread sup port,” Owings said. “It’s an initia tive that will strengthen our uni versities, while providing a major incentive for attracting high-tech, y well-paying-businesses.” USC Provost Jerry Odom said the lottery doesn’t change the uni versity’s vision for the future of scholarships. . “The first thing to look at is that the Legislature has still not acted on how the lottery money will be spent,” Odom said. “We are cer tainly waiting to see what hap pens.” Hodges would also spend $5 mil lion on teacher training. The plan devotes $1 million of unclaimed prizes to programs to help gambling addicts and $10 mil lion to school buses. Comments on this story? Write gamecockcitydesk@hotma il. com Watson Athletics official: Decision *difficult’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 student athlete it is disappoint ing,” he said. “We will have to move on; however, when you have to make a decision such as this it can be very difficult.” Watson and 22-year-old Antwan Andre Galloway of Pendleton were sitting in the front seat of a 1975 four-door gold Chevrolet when detectives spotted Watson filling the shell of a cigar with a substance from a small clear plas tic bag, according to Lt. Mike flamHroll According to Gambrell, as the detectives approached the car, Watson tried to hide the bag on his side and later on the front floor board. The bag weighed 8.5 grams and field-tested positive as mari juana. Another bag weighing 2.4 grams was found on Galloway. The third passenger in the back seat was released without charge. According to USC spokesman Russ McKinney, Watson will have to appear before the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and could face expulsion, the Associated . Press reported Tuesday. But in an interview with The Gamecock, Scott Lewis, director of student judicial affairs, said fed eral law prevented him from com menting on the possibility of Watson appearing for a hearing. Watson has two options should he appear for a hearing. He could settle the matter with administra tors in an informal manner or go beforeCarolina Student Judicial Council for a formal hearing. Lewis said that 99 percent of the time students choose not to go be fore the student judiciary com mittee buf added that this year they are on pace to break the record for most cases heard, a fact that pleases Lewis. “I like it when students can solve problems among them selves,” he said. Lewis said if Watson appears for an administrative hearing, pri or violations would be taken into consideration before a decision was made. Watson came to USC as the state’s top prospect in 1999. In his three seasons as USC’s starting running back, he has rushed for 2,078 yards on 437 carries and 16 touchdowns. Watson led the SEC in all purpose yards in 2000. with 1,066, but passed up on the NFL draft to return for his junior year, which ended in a disappointing 618 yards rushing with five touch downs. Comments on this story? Write gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Budgeting Hourly tuition rate could decrease CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 pare notes on the implementa tion process. The SDI Committee also rec ommends student academic fees be charged on a credit hour basis, while keeping in mind the student’s state residency and academic fees. The reason ing behind such change would be to ensure a more accurate distribution of fees to academic units. Right now, full-time students must take a minimum of 12 hours.' Part-time students pay $187 per credit hour, while full time students pay a set tuition rate of $1,982. If broken down on an hourly basis, part-time students are paying more per hour than full time students. Under the new system, students would pay based on an hourly rate. “We want to keep the revenue neutral to the university,” said Bill Bragdon, budget director. “In other words, we don’t want to charge the students any more, and we don’t want the university to lose money either.” While Bragdon said that noth ing has been decided yet, he said that one scenario would be to lower the hourly tuition rate to $165, so that 12 hours of credit would be closer to the full-time payment of $1,982. “If everyone were to start paying the hourly rate, that hourly rate may be less because we wouldn’t want to punish a full-time student and ask them to pay more money just because of a change,” Bragdon said. USC president John Palms stressed that VCM is not similar to the “every tub on its own bot IUI11 UUUgCllllg 111CIIIUU, WIIC1C the academic units are cut loose in a sink-or-swim situation without any association to the performance of other units. Many private institutions use this method, but Palms said it would not work at USC. “In a major public institution, that is a little more difficult to do, and the adaptation of this ‘tub on its own bottom’ is called Value Centered Management,” said Palms. “This gives more re sponsibility to the institution, holds it more accountable, but also gives it more autonomy as far as creativity and entrepre neurship and innovation.” Comments on this story? Write gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Sanford Wants to shrink state government CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 per capita personal income is $5,500 lower than the national average and that South Carolina is in the top 16 states for highest income taxes. According to Sanford, the new plan would build credibili ty in the state’s economy by eliminating the wealth gap be tween South Carolina and its neighbors. “If we don’t get our tax policy right in South Carolina, we will continue to lag behind our peer group in the Southeast,” he said. According to Sanford, the overall proposal shows his de sire to reduce the size of the state’s government. “The number one part of this tax plan talks about the need to limit government,” he said. The plan calls for money that normally would have been allo cated to the government to be al located to the individual, Sanford said. He also said his plan factors in population in creases and inflation. Sanford said the four key as pects of his political platform are The candidates for governor Sanford isn’t the only one running for governor. Here are the major-party candidates for the office: Republicans Lt. Gov Bob Peeler Attorney General Charlie Condon _ Lawyer Ken Wingate State Sen. Bill Branton Secretary of State Jim Miles Rebekah Sutherland Democrats Gov. Jim Hodges restructuring government, re forming education, building ac countability in government and preserving the quality of life in South Carolina. He said his tax plan is the First step in restruc turing the state’s government. Sanford was a U.S. Congressman for six years and is a native of Sullivan’s Island. Comments on this story? Write gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com • Free Shuttle to Campus • 24 Flour Fitness Center w/ Free Weights • Resort Style Pool w/Hot Tub • Free Tanning Bed • 24 Flour Multimedia Center • 24 Flour Game Room w/Pool Table • Basketball and Sand Volleyball ^ I' BRAND NEW APARTMENT HOMES ) • Washer and Dryer in Every ■ Apartment STERLING UNIVERSITY • Private Bedrooms with Individual lock & key i ^ —~-1 • 24 Hour Emergency 215 Spencer Place Maintenance Cayce, SC 29033 (803)739-0899 . .... .. 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