Views on college may differ, but readers agree on moral failure of high tuition costs

Outrageous disservice

I applaud David Travis Bland, interim editorial editor for The State, for his insightful editorial, “Outrageous S.C. college tuition fees are a disservice to us all” (4/3/2022).

Bland thoughtfully lays out the increasing costs of public universities in South Carolina, completely disproportionate to the median income of South Carolinians and their ability to cover tuition and fees for a university education.

To be sure, this critical topic is not discussed near enough, perhaps to the secret delight of those who hold the state’s purse strings. Indeed, over the last many years, with the systematic defunding of public universities from the legislature, universities around the state have largely become tuition-driven enterprises; in fact, making them de facto privately run corporations.

This works to undercut the public good, clearly widening the opportunity gap and stretching even further the chasm between the proverbial haves and have nots. This is not good if we aim to further the economic and social progress of South Carolina.

Bland is right when he states outrageous college tuition fees are a disservice to us all. To correct this course, it is a moral imperative for the state legislature to justly better fund higher education.

James D. Kirylo, Lexington

‘Silly’ expense

A college experience is outrageously expensive. A college education is not, though I do agree that South Carolina is ripping off its citizenry by allowing the tuition prices they do.

Unfortunately, teens and their families believe they need a college experience: football games, luxury apartments, educational experiences abroad, etc.

None of this has anything to do with a college education.

If you make good grades in high school, and you get a reasonable score on the ACT/SAT, two years at the local community college is essentially free.

Keep your grades up while there, work 25-40 hours per week, live at home or as inexpensively as you can, and you will get some money through the lottery program (5K to 7.5K annually) to help with the next two years at the university closest to your hometown.

Work while there, cash flow your tuition with savings from community college and work, and before you know it, you have an undergraduate degree for less than $35,000.

The world does not care where you get your degree so long as it is an accredited school.

Paying too much for college is just silly.

Fran Halloran, Lexington

Enormous pressure

David Travis Bland’s recent editorial concerning the high cost of public higher education in South Carolina presented a disquieting picture of a scenario that should trouble all of us.

As a college instructor, I see the struggles that so many students face, especially those who are working during each semester to earn enough money to take classes. The pressure is enormous for them.

Many of these students are a bit older, married with families, yet they work and save to be able to get their degrees.

It’s also a major problem for DACA students. They are guaranteed by the federal government via the Dreamers’ Act the right to attend college. Yet here, they are not allowed to pay the lower state resident rate for tuition even though they pay taxes and have lived in this state for years. This seems grossly unfair.

We see growing numbers of jobs in South Carolina go unfilled -- nurses, teachers, medical technicians, engineers, among many others. Economists predict increasing shortages in workers for strategic jobs over the next few years.

We must make it more feasible financially for our future workforce to receive degrees from our public colleges and universities.

Sherry M. Beasley, Columbia

Opinion ‘wanting’

David Travis Bland’s editorial on the cost of South Carolina colleges was very informative, very good. Until — until he came to the next to last paragraph: “Forget income. Forget grades. Forget test scores. A person’s ability to go to college should be based on one thing — do they want to go to college.”

Who do you think colleges are for? I really really, really want to be an astronaut. Can I just be an astronaut because I want to?

Students going to college must be able to study, learn and participate in the process. Without good grades and test scores, how can a student be expected to do well in college?

No one will graduate simply by “wanting.”

Cliff Floyd, West Columbia