ISSUE: College costs, grants

OUR VIEW: Higher costs, less aid put college out of reach for more students

When students return to college and university campuses in coming days, it will cost them more than ever at most South Carolina institutions.

Tuition increases this year range from zero at South Carolina State University to more than 11 percent at the University of South Carolina.

On top of the costs, a change in how the federal government doles out financial aid could force some of South Carolina's poorest students and their families to shoulder more of the cost of attending college.

The shift leaves the neediest students in the state digging deeper into their own pockets, Karen Woodfaulk, director of Student Services at the state Commission on Higher Education, told The Associated Press.

Last November, Congress approved a plan to allow the U.S. Department of Education to update its tax deduction tables used to calculate eligibility for financial aid, including the Pell grant. The updated tables make it appear that families are paying less in state taxes and have more disposable income to contribute to their own college costs, analysts and college officials say.

The update did not take into account higher local taxes, and families "ended up on paper appearing they could contribute more money than they had in the past," said Ed Miller, director of Financial Aid at the University of South Carolina.

This could hurt students from low-income families the Pell grant was created to assist and accelerate a growing gap between the haves and have-nots, said Elizabeth Milam Lomas, associate director of financial aid at Clemson.

There were 61,992 Pell Grant recipients at South Carolina public and private colleges and universities in 2004, Woodfaulk said. An estimated 69 percent of those students would be expected to pay an average of $581 a year more under the new formula, according to a federal report.

Nationally, an estimated 61 percent of Pell recipients would see an average increase of $443.

As families feel the pinch from smaller grants, tuition is increasing. "Across the state and nation, access and affordability are major concerns," Woodfaulk said.

Any time colleges increase tuition, scholarships and grants are automatically devalued, she said. Increasing tuition forces some students -- often the neediest -- to turn away from higher education, defer plans to attend college or take out more loans to help with the cost, she said.

Loans aren't keeping pace with the increasing tuition either, college officials say. Limits on amounts students can borrow though federal loans hasn't increased since 1992, Lomas said.

In South Carolina, there is the accompanying issue of lagging state financing for higher education. Colleges and universities say that is the primary culprit in rising tuition costs.

The combination of issues is making it tougher and tougher for students to enter higher education. And that is not good for a developing state such as South Carolina.

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