This week the 2020 session of the South Carolina General Assembly kicked off with the delivery by Governor McMaster of his Executive Budget.

There is considerable good news in the governor’s budget.

The governor proposes including the $1.1 million increase requested by the S.C. Tuition Grants Commission in recurring funds, which means that appropriation permanently would be included in the state budget. The funding request will permit the maximum student grant to increase by $100 to $3,600.

The Executive Budget also designates $200,000 requested by the Tuition Grants Commission for upgrading its dated computer system, as well as $275,000 in recurring funds to support the system.

The CHE Needs-Based Aid program, which primarily supports students at public universities, received a big increase – an additional $19 million on top of the $32 million it received last year. It’s important to remember that the Tuition Grants Program receives about 16 percent of what is designated for the CHE Need-Based Grant program. That means the Tuition Grant Program would receive about $3 million in additional funding.

State merit scholarships were fully funded in the Executive Budget.

The state interlibrary loan system, PASCAL, typically has secured its $1.5 million in funding through annual appropriations from the lottery. This year the governor included the PASCAL appropriation as recurring funds, which has not happened in recent memory.

Together, this year’s Executive Budget contains an unprecedented level of support for independent higher education. Of course, this is square one in the state budget game. We’ll have to see how the House of Representatives responds to the Executive Budget. But this is a very good start.

On December 20th, President Trump signed H.R. 1865, the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020,” an end-of-year $1.4 trillion spending bill that averted a government shutdown.

Regarding taxes, the bill contains several victories for private colleges and universities.

Fixes the “kiddie tax.” The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) included a provision that resulted in many low- and middle-income students who rely on scholarship aid to pay for their college education to be taxed at a much higher rate for the portion of the aid applied to non-tuition expenses, such as room and board. H.R. 1865 returns the tax to the previous marginal rate of a student’s parents, which typically is much lower.

Eliminates the “parking tax.” H.R. 1865 repeals the provision known as the “parking tax,” which imposed a 21 percent tax on the value of transportation and parking benefits that tax-exempt nonprofits, including colleges and universities, provide to their employees.

Eliminates the health care “Cadillac tax.” H.R. 1865 repeals the tax on higher-cost employer health insurance plans included in the Affordable Care Act that was to go into effect in 2022.

And, as you no doubt are aware, the House has delivered the articles of impeachment to the Senate. Not much will be accomplished in Congress until the Senate trial of President Trump is completed.

Need to get over the post-holiday blues? SCICU colleges and universities offer lots of special events to bring back the smiles.

Click on the school links below to find events scheduled at your favorite college or university.

Allen University

Anderson University

Benedict College

Charleston Southern University

Claflin University

Coker University

Columbia College

Columbia International University

Converse College

Erskine College

Furman University

Limestone College

Morris College

Newberry College

North Greenville University

Presbyterian College

Southern Wesleyan University

Spartanburg Methodist College

Voorhees College

Wofford College

FUTURE Act passes –

Last week the Senate passed by unanimous consent a bipartisan deal struck by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) to amend the FUTURE Act, which already passed the House, to permanently reauthorize the funding stream for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The amended version has passed the House and will go to President Trump, who has indicated he will sign it.

The $255 million program is paid for by making changes to the FAFSA and the Internal Revenue Code to allow more data-sharing between the Department of Education and the Department of Treasury. Doing so will streamline the FAFSA application process, reducing the FAFSA form by as many as 22 questions – which will benefit all 20 million FAFSA applicants, while saving the federal government approximately $6 billion in mistakes resulting from overpayments and underpayments of Pell grants and student loans.

This agreement between Sens. Alexander and Murray also suggests that there may be progress in the Senate on a comprehensive version of Higher Education Act Reauthorization.

House passes $1.4 trillion spending bill –

On Tuesday the House approved a $1.4 trillion spending package, which, should the Senate act by Friday, will avoid a shutdown of the federal government. Previously, Congress passed, and President Trump signed, a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government running until December 20. If House and Senate budget negotiators are unable to agree, impeachment proceedings next year would likely necessitate a CR that would last until February or March.

The spending bill increases the maximum Pell Grant by $150 to $6,345, and adds $25 million for a total of $865 million, for the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) program. It also allocates $1.2 billion for the Federal Work-Study program, a $50 million increase from FY 2019.

Of significance for independent colleges, the bill repeals the new tax on nonprofit employers who offer transportation benefits – the so-called “parking tax.”

Earnings data now on College Scorecard website –

The U.S. Department of Education has, for the first time, published on the federal website, the College Scorecard, the median annual earnings, by program, of students one year after graduation.

There are several very important qualifiers:

• As mentioned above, the College Scorecard only provides information on the earnings of college graduates after one year. There is concern that families will miss that subtlety and interpret the information as the average salary of all graduates.
• The earnings information is by program, but only those programs with more than 10 graduates in the federal dataset – this is to ensure that the personal information regarding individual graduates cannot be gleaned from the reports. However, doing so also leaves out many programs, particularly at smaller institutions.
• The website captures the earnings only of those graduates who received federal aid or a federal student loan. Again, many students are not included in the data.

For those who want to do a deep dive in the data, the College Scorecard report for each institution provides information for all majors for which information is reportable. There are also click options to sort the “Fields of Study” tab by Highest Earnings and Lowest Debt. It appears that earnings are published for certificate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs which meet the reporting thresholds. The data sets are available as are the Technical Documentation for Data Files by Field of Study document which further explains the methodology behind the data release.

Executive Order signed to combat anti-Semitism –

President Trump has signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to adopt a more expansive definition of anti-Semitism and clarifies the circumstances under which anti-Semitic conduct will be construed as a form of national origin discrimination.

The executive order is very similar to guidance issued by the Obama Administration in 2010 which offer the following interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act: “Harassment against students who are members of any religious group triggers a school’s Title VI responsibilities when the harassment is based on the group’s actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, rather than solely on its members’ religious practices.”

Like the Obama-era guidance, President Trump’s order states that “discrimination against Jews may give rise to a Title VI violation when the discrimination is based on an individual’s race, color, or national origin.”

Additionally, the order allows federal agencies to adopt the same broad definition of anti-Semitism that is contained in the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2019. The new executive order also clarifies that federal agencies are prohibited from infringing upon First Amendment free speech rights.

Justice Department reaches antitrust settlement with NACAC –

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached an agreement with the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) to resolve its two-year antitrust investigation of the group’s operation.

As you may recall from a previous update, the DOJ alleged NACAC’s code of ethics constituted an unlawful restriction on competition in violation of federal antitrust laws. In an effort to satisfy DOJ, NACAC voted in September to eliminate the relevant sections from its code of ethics with which DOJ took exception. Nevertheless, DOJ pursued a lawsuit, and NACAC agreed to enter into a consent decree in order to avoid lengthy and costly litigation.

The deleted provisions:

• Precluded institutions from providing exclusive incentives to early decision applicants;
• Barred the recruitment of students who have committed to another college unless the students initiate an inquiry; and
• Prohibited the recruitment of transfer students unless the students initiate contact.

Under procedural rules that govern such agreements, the proposed consent decree will be published in the Federal Register for public comments. After the comment period closes, a court is expected to enter a final judgment approving the consent decree.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — SCICU campus legislative coordinators from across the state gathered on December 6th in Columbia for a legislative brief and kick-off of the annual letter writing campaign, in support of the South Carolina Higher Education Tuition Grants Program.

Last year a record-setting 9,000-plus letters were sent to members of the S.C. General Assembly by SCICU students who received tuition grants. The campus leaders are charged with the goal of having every tuition grant recipient write letters to their respective state representatives and senators, thanking them for making it more affordable for South Carolina residents to attend the independent college or university of their choice in the state.

During this year’s meeting the campus coordinators received an economic and state budget update from Mike Shealy, budget director of the Senate Finance Committee, and a legislative preview from S.C. House Rep. Chandra Dillard.

While there are signs of a recession that inevitably will follow this period of robust economic expansion, Shealy offered a very positive outlook for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. He noted the South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors has projected $1.8 billion in additional funds over the previous fiscal year. Of that total $1 billion is non-recurring, and $800 is recurring – once it’s appropriated it will appear in future budgets.

Katie Harrison, executive director of the S.C. Tuition Grants Commission, reported that the commissioners approved requesting $1.1 million in additional funding, which would permit a maximum grant of $3,600.

Jeff Perez, President and CEO of SCICU, noted the importance of the letter writing campaign in advocating for the increase.

“When I meet with representatives and senators, they immediately acknowledge SCICU student letters, so I know personally the letters get their attention,” said Perez.

Dillard, who represents SC House District 23, and is also the Furman University director of community relations, echoed the importance of the letter writing campaign, and offered her perspective on the upcoming session of the General Assembly. She shared that K-12 education will remain a focus, as it was last year. Whether or not to sell state-owned electric and water utility Santee Cooper will also receive attention.

2019 student letter-writing campaign awards

During the gathering, Anderson University was recognized for its students writing 1,678 letters to their state representatives and senators, the most during the 2019 campaign. Andrew Beckner, Anderson University executive director for public relations, accepted the SCICU award on behalf of Anderson for the greatest number of letters written. With 100% of their tuition grants recipients writing letters, Erskine College was recognized for the highest percentage of students sending letters to their members of the General Assembly.

2020 S. C. Independent Colleges and Universities Day

The 2020 legislative letter-writing campaign will culminate with the 2020 Independent Colleges and Universities Day on April 8, 2020. On that day, students from SCICU campuses will gather at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, across the street from the S.C. State House, for a legislative warm-up and celebration of their letter-writing campaign. The students will then gather at the State House for visits with representatives and senators and recognition as a group in the gallery in the Senate.