South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities
A Voice for Independent Higher Education in South Carolina
Jeff Perez, Ph.D.SCICU President and CEO
Many of you know I hail from New York, where the state motto is “Excelsior,” and translates from Latin to “Ever Upward.” Here, in my adopted state of South Carolina, the state motto is “Dum Spiro Spero,” or “While I Breathe I Hope.”
Together, I think these mottos capture the spirit of the 21 SCICU member institutions.
These private colleges and universities embrace the challenge of providing their students the high quality academic and living experience they and their families expect. As a result, their students enjoy a preparation that matches their greatest aspirations.
Considering the achievements of the SCICU member institutions, it is no surprise they had a strong showing in the annual U.S. News Best Colleges rankings released a few days ago. U.S. News captures several aspects of an institution’s operations in order to give campuses with different priorities the chance to excel. These include graduation rates, student indebtedness, class size, and alumni giving, to name a few.
U.S. News also groups colleges and universities into size and region categories so they are ranked with comparable institutions.
Several SCICU member institutions were ranked near the very top of their respective categories. Their rankings are a testament to their embodiment of “Excelsior,” and we offer our heartiest congratulations.
Now let’s turn to “Dum Spiro Spero.” SCICU member institutions provide their students with the opportunity to realize their highest hopes by making a college education accessible to all students, regardless of their backgrounds.
Just take a look at a few statistics from our member institutions.
Regarding financial aid, our campuses have the greatest confidence in their students and invest in them accordingly. Last year, SCICU colleges and universities provided nearly $342 million – that’s more than one-third of a billion dollars – in institutional aid, so they could help remove economic hurdles in the way of students whose hope and dream is to benefit from the superior education they offer. Institutional aid is far and away the largest source of financial aid students at SCICU member institutions receive, far greater than student loans.
So what did we learn from today’s Latin lesson? Our students are striving ever upward, and SCICU member colleges and universities breathe hope into their aspirations.
We received some bad news from the House Education and Labor Committee, which proposed in its part of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill a $500 increase in the Pell Grants Program, but funded free two-year college.
Typically, a $500 increase would be good news, but with so much money on the table, we have been pushing to double the Pell Program from $6,495 to $13,000. It’s fair to say the money that could have doubled Pell went to free two-year colleges.
It’s important to remember that doubling Pell has the functional effect of making two-year colleges free, while also empowering all students to attend whatever institution best meets their needs. Doubling Pell permits students and their families to select the college with the academic programs that suits their talents and campus communities most able to support them.
And a new report from the Gender Equity Policy Institute concludes doubling Pell would cut the student debt of bachelor’s degree students who receive the maximum award by a whopping 79 percent!
We will continue to fight to double Pell. If you would like to help, go to #DoublePell.
Recently President Biden garnered a lot of attention with his announcement of executive orders requiring federal employees, and employees working under federal contracts, to be vaccinated for COVID-19, or receive weekly tests. He also directed OSHA to require the same for companies with more than 100 employees – this includes SCICU member institutions.
However, there’s a long path between the president’s announcement and implementation. The executive orders must be navigated through the collective bargaining agreements of the numerous federal employee unions. Doing so will take at least several weeks.
And even though OSHA will act through emergency rulemaking, even that process will take several weeks. Beyond that, leaders in several states, including Gov. McMaster, have vowed to oppose and litigate the new orders. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has signed a letter with 23 other state attorneys general warning the Biden administration they will sue if the president’s vaccine mandates take effect.
The bottom line: we are in the first round of what will likely be a long fight.
When will the General Assembly return to Columbia? We know the Senate’s schedule and are waiting to hear from the House.
The Senate has announced its special fall session will begin on October 12, during which they intend to address re-districting and how to spend about $2.6 billion in funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the proceeds from the Savannah River Site settlement.
Senate President Harvey Peeler made it clear in a memo to his colleagues that no other matters will be considered, including the budget proviso prohibiting mask requirements in K-12 schools. However, Senate rules give any single member the power to bog down the proceedings, which may happen because several senators may want to make the point that they want the mandate prohibition repealed.
We don’t know the House’s schedule yet, but it is unlikely they will return any sooner than the Senate.
Charleston Southern University
But that’s hardly scratching the surface of fall sports at SCICU’s 21 member colleges and universities. Click on the names of your favorite teams to learn more about their fall sports programs:
Allen University Yellow Jackets
Charleston Southern University Buccaneers
Columbia International University Rams
North Greenville University Crusaders
Presbyterian College Blue Hose
Southern Wesleyan University Warriors
Despite the continued economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, SCICU once again exceeded its annual fundraising goals. For 2020-21, SCICU raised over $538,000, exceeding its overall goal of $524,000. With supplemental funds coming from the SCICU endowment, almost $697,000 was distributed to SCICU member colleges and universities.
“We at SCICU are proud and humbled by the generosity of our donors who stepped up this year and increased their support for students attending independent colleges and universities in South Carolina,” said SCICU President & CEO Jeff Perez. “In a year that found many families struggling financially, the support of our donors helped students realize the dream of a college education.”
Among SCICU’s donor-supported programs is the SCICU Student Lifeline Grants Program which provides aid to students facing an unexpected financial emergency.
For the second straight year, SCICU was selected as the recipient of a $50,000 Power:Ed grant from the S.C. Student Loan Corporation. The program provides $50,000 for distribution to SCICU’s 20 member colleges and universities to aid in student retention and student degree completion during the 2021-22 academic year.
The SCICU Named Scholars Program continues to be the flagship fundraising program at SCICU with $432,000 being raised for scholarships. Each of the 13 major donors specify the financial need and academic qualifications for scholarship recipients chosen to participate in their respective scholarship programs.
SCICU is proud to recognize the following donors for their contributions to the Named Scholars Program during the 2020-2021 fiscal year:
The funds received from Named Scholars donors during the 2020-2021 fiscal year were distributed to scholarship recipients in September 2021 for the 2021-22 academic year.
“Fully 100 percent of funds raised by SCICU goes toward making it more affordable for South Carolina resident students to attend the independent college or university of their choice in their home state,” said Perez.
Undergraduate student research is also a major focus of SCICU’s annual fundraising campaign. SCICU recognizes the following donors who contributed during the 2020-2021 fiscal year specifically for funding undergraduate student research opportunities for undergraduate students attending SCICU member colleges and universities:
SCICU welcomes gifts of all sizes for supporting independent higher education at its member colleges and universities. Eddie Shannon, SCICU executive vice president, is always available to help with establishing new scholarship programs for students who choose to attend an independent college or university in South Carolina. Eddie can be reached by phone (803-730-2369) or email (eddie@scicu.org). Should you wish to donate to SCICU online, please visit https://www.scicu.org/donate/.