As we reported exclusively three weeks ago, the University of South Carolina’s board of trustees voted to raise tuition for the coming academic year by 3.9 percent – from $9,786 to $10,168 a year.
We hit the number right on the nose …
Obviously, another higher ed tuition hike was no surprise. USC and other institutions of economic development boondoggling … err, higher learning … have been jacking tuition on students and parents for years in an effort to fund their creeping missions (and dole out pay raises for top employees). Obviously that’s had a deleterious impact on their academic performance … but whatever.
Getting “less for more” is par for the course when it comes to South Carolina tax dollars, sadly.
Anyway … yet another vote to jack tuition (which more than doubled over the previous decade) wasn’t surprising.
What was?
The vote cast by Tommy Cofield – the Lexington lawyer who was appointed to the USC board by S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley earlier this year.
In appointing Cofield – one of her campaign contributors – Haley specifically said that she wanted him to “lower tuition on South Carolina families.”
Well guess what … Cofield joined his new colleagues on the USC board in supporting the tuition hike.
Wait … what?
Yup. The guy appointed to the USC board by a “Tea Party” governor joined with uber-liberal board members like William Hubbard and golden parachute recipient Mack Whittle in supporting this latest tuition hike.
Let’s get this straight … Haley jettisoned liberal icon Darla Moore from the USC board (a move she was later busted lying about) so that she could appoint a guy to the post who just voted exactly the same way she would have voted?
Unbelievable.
Or maybe not. After all, this is the same “Tea Party” governor who approved massive salary increases for her staff and signed off on more than a billion dollars in new spending in the current state budget.
The beat goes on, people …
***
By Popeye July 1, 2011 at 11:26 am
I’m still waiting for Darla to get some payback. There is no chance in hell that cat fight is finished.
By Tango July 1, 2011 at 11:28 am
Why can’t be have a brilliant, blonde, beauty like Darla for Governor? The first thing she would do is undo all of Nookie’s crap, and ship Timmy P back to PA where he can………………
By conservative1 July 1, 2011 at 11:34 am
Is Tiny Tim in some kind of trouble in regards to Penn.?
By Huhhh??? July 1, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Yet another issue (like the state of SC K-12 education) where you take something that’s happening across the country – rising tuitions – and attribute it to something happening only in South Carolina due to some SC specific problem.
Yes, there are still Tea Party types who buy all of your anti-SC blathering, but most people are better informed.
The only thing worth knowing about Cofield is whether he represented Trikki in her severence case with LMC. Have you asked yet?
By frustrated July 1, 2011 at 12:55 pm
I love how the Republicans talk about “no new taxes” yet impose “user fees” that are taxes in disguise. And those who vote them are none the wiser.
By Bubba Joe July 1, 2011 at 1:08 pm
Tuition went up, but how much did state funding drop? Most departments are running on a skeleton crew as is, it’s only the people in Osborne who are getting big raises and salary supplements. Most USC faculty and staff have gone 5-6-7 years without any salary increase.
By Bubba Joe July 1, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Tango – If looks are what you use to determine a governor’s qualifications, there are a lot prettier women in SC than Darla Moore. For that matter we might as well elect a USC sorority girl.
By costcutter July 1, 2011 at 1:34 pm
I thought Mr Cofield (Trustee Cofield) reflected Her Excellency’s vision for USC. Has her view changed? Doesn’t surprise me. She is the most duplicitous politician in this state.
By Shanky July 1, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Sorority girl, yeah… beer, yeah… Oh anyway, Pastides or whatever his name is personally responsible for another whole tier of vice-provosts earning yes you guessed it, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do JACK SQUAT. The little people are getting laid off and or as mentioned have not had raises in years…
By Timmy's Dick July 1, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Hey, when Nikki called me tiny she was just kidding. Honest.
By fly on the wall July 1, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Another sucker punch to all those Moms and Dads with kids in SC colleges, who voted for Miss Hypocricy.
By Wizno July 1, 2011 at 2:23 pm
I want to hear from Darla. She deserves some media time to hang this bitch out to dry.
By Lord V July 1, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Sic…the PostandCourier are running articles about you not having a publisher, too busy to write a book, no evidence…..its not looking good. As they say, it’s clobbering time. DNA, pictures, medical links, whatever…….you just gotta show them something to get them to shut the fuck up.
By A face in the crowd July 1, 2011 at 2:38 pm
The tuition increases the past couple of years have been pretty modest at USC and Clemson. You can bet that each president would have asked for a great deal more if it was politically feasible. At Clemson, Barker destroyed the university’s economic and political interests with the state when he accumulated an $80 million slush fund and increased tuition by 42% in a single year. Since that point, the university has had no leverage to ask for anything. This is what happens when a myopic amateur is hired to do the work of a professional. While leaders at some of the top universities in the country were showing a bit of solidarity with faculty, taking pay cuts, Barker was busy figuring out how to make his inner circle as wealthy as possible.
By Mary July 1, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Nice
By Alabaster II July 1, 2011 at 3:10 pm
Wonder when Mark Sanford will come out of hibernation and either praise or chastise Nikki for her 6 month stint as the Governor.
By Sanford's Brain July 1, 2011 at 4:02 pm
We hear the Gov is not at all happy with his creation and has not been since very early on.
By Sanford's Dick July 1, 2011 at 5:24 pm
It was good while it lasted. Kinda sloppy, but beats a bar of soap.
By Sanford's Ass July 1, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Oh, the strap on was too long, and she refuses to use lube. Refuses, says its too messy, expensive, and takes up way too much time. It’s all about her. She’s the one, not the others.
By Maader July 2, 2011 at 3:16 am
The problem is not the small tuition raise but the huge salaries and supplements that people get to keep when they no longer have the job. VP Kresovich sits on an over 250k salary after resigning. Not bad for about 18 months of doing nothing but reminding us that he was from Cornell.
Mary Anne Fitzpatrick while still in the job has ‘outsourced’ her job as dean of the college of Arts and Sciences to a bunch of Mini-Mes and has checked
out knowing nobody will ever give her a job anywhere else.
VP Dipetite sits on a 250k plus salary after being neutered and has zero impact and has a hard time finding a job some where else with his salary and ‘track record’.
That’s a liot of dead wood being carried along
By Cancerman July 2, 2011 at 3:57 am
Lloyd: ‘First man’ tried to influence SLED hiring
Michael Haley, Gov. Nikki Haley’s husband, tried to influence SLED hiring and promotions, departing SLED chief Reggie Lloyd said Thursday.
“He wanted us to hire five, six seven people. He had a list. I told him ‘no.’ We couldn’t do it that way,” Lloyd said Thursday, calling the governor’s husband “the first man.”
“He wanted us to hire them in as SLED agents,” said Lloyd. “I said, ‘I don’t pass out SLED badges.’”
By Charlie July 2, 2011 at 11:19 am
Lloyd sounds like a good man. He needs to sign on with TIPS. Darla needs to sign on with TIPS. Is Loftis on board? Sic, we need an article on TIPS.
By Above and Beyond July 2, 2011 at 3:27 pm
An interesting mix of comments, better than most blogs I’ve seen.
By Rapture July 2, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Where is a feature story on Cuckhold? Sounds like he tried to heat up SLED? Does he sleep at the mansion? Has he got some extra tail? Is he even straight? Come on, if the guy is bone hard gay, he and his wife are on the same team.
By Media Whiz July 2, 2011 at 5:23 pm
The vows……..perhaps they are faithful in that they will not stray with other girls???
By Lonnie July 2, 2011 at 10:29 pm
What the fuck FITS? Why have you not jumped on the Michael Haley SLED story. Let see the FOIA request between Loyds emails and The Haleys. Goddamn do we have to write your fucking stories for you?
By . July 3, 2011 at 12:13 pm
Master,
Pastides lack of leadership is responsible for all the Osborne deadwood. Kresovich had no budget and quit when Pastides did not fulfill his offer letter. Mary anne Fitzpatrick should have been gone 2 years ago, but Pastides saw that she was retained over the protestations of the provost -after the provost had gone around promising a fair review. What a joke Amiridis! Pastides simply did not have the guts to fire diPettie. Osborne to he faculty and staff ” let them eat cake” with no pay raise and the largest undergraduate class in history. Meanwhile the VPs, asoociate provosts, PR and business people get fat raises as “supplements”.
By Meg July 3, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Lloyd wasn’t going to be the Gov’s play toy. Good for him. Finan, Exec. Director at the Dept. of Education and Workforce got the same letter (May 25) as Lloyd from the Gov. telling him no personnel changes without her approval. Finan ignored it bc he is a short timer. They say he listens to Ryberg, not the Gov. Humm.