State students pay 32 percent of tuition ‘sticker price,’ Barker tells legislators

COLUMBIA, SC – January 19, 2011 – Clemson University President James F. Barker told South Carolina legislators Wednesday that the university is admitting more state residents than ever before and that they are paying less than the widely reported full tuition — or “sticker price” — for that education.

In a presentation to the Higher Education Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, Barker said, “The average first-time in-state freshmen at Clemson last year actually paid $3,462 in academic fees compared to the ‘sticker price’ of $10,848.

He said the real tuition cost to in-state students is 32 percent of that sticker price on average.

He credited much of those savings to the impact of the state’s Palmetto Fellows, LIFE and HOPE scholarship programs. Every one of the 1,824 incoming freshmen from South Carolina in fall 2010 received a scholarship averaging $7,902, he said.

South Carolina residents make up about 65 percent of the student body, a percentage that has remained constant for decades while enrollment increased, he told the subcommittee.

“People seem genuinely surprised when I tell them that, last year, 87 percent of in-state applicants were offered either August or January admission or the Bridge to Clemson program,” he said.

Undergraduate Student Body President Ryan Duane, a senior finance major from Irmo, thanked the legislators for the LIFE scholarship that enabled him to attend Clemson.

He told them he hopes the discussion about higher education in South Carolina moves from one about how to cut university budgets to one about quality.

“How can we make sure South Carolina high school graduates get the higher education they need to compete in the 21st century?” he said.

Barker asked the legislators to continue supporting the LIFE, Palmetto Fellows and HOPE scholarship programs; to provide regulatory reform to help universities manage with reduced funding; and restrain from imposing such mandates as tuition or enrollment caps.

Follow this link to read Barker’s and Duane’s presentations to the subcommittee.