Higher Ed Watch: Clemson University’s Financial Position Is Getting Worse

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A year ago, Clemson University approved its first-ever $2 billion budget – a massive spending plan fueled by government grants and a spike in out-of-state tuition. At the same time, the school approved an additional $200 million in new borrowing – part of a massive escalation of its debt.

While Clemson’s exact current bonded indebtedness is not readily available, the school’s most recent annual comprehensive financial report (.pdf) revealed its total outstanding debt to be $1.08 billion – a staggering 187.4% increase over the past decade. The same report showed debt per student had soared by 118.4% – from $17,998 to $39,305 – over the same time frame.

That’s more than twice the debt per student carried by the University of South Carolina.

Over the last three years alone, Clemson’s total debt has exploded by 69.4% while its debt per student has climbed by 54.2%.

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Does that sound even remotely sustainable? Of course not… yet just last month Clemson approved another $56.3 million in new debt for another 360-bed student housing facility. The school is also seeking an additional $133 million in state funds for new construction.

In February of this year, Clemson’s top financial officer – executive vice president Tony Wagner – announced he was leaving the school to accept a similar position at the University of Utah. Wagner’s departure was seen as a major blow to the administration of president Jim Clements.

Wagner was paid $550,000 annually – nearly $75,000 higher than the salary of the financial officer he will replace at Utah. Does that sound like a lateral move? Or someone fleeing a sinking ship?

In a press release announcing Wagner’s departure, the school noted “Clements and his leadership team are reviewing the needs of the University and will share transition plans in the coming weeks.”

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RELATED | STOP SUBSIDIZING HIGHER ED DEBT

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The following day, Wagner’s successor – Rick Petillo – told trustees that Clemson’s revenues were running anywhere between 3% to 3.5% behind its expenditures, and that university outlays must be limited to “mission critical” items.

Wait… isn’t “mission critical” supposed to be the standard for all taxpayer expenditures?

According to Petillo, a budget “course correction” at Clemson was required based on a review of the school’s first quarter financials – which concluded the school would need to cut $73.5 million by the end of June 2025.

In response, Clemson imposed a 30-day hiring freeze and a 60-day freeze on non-compensation expenses in March of this year. The school blamed these freezes, in part, on “evolving federal priorities” – i.e. directives from the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump.

Speaking of those directives, Clemson is one of several dozen institutions of higher learning across America currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) for “engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs,” according to a March 14, 2025 release from the agency.

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The announcement of the investigation came after DOE’s civil rights division previously instructed Clemson and approximately forty other schools “to end the use of racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities.”

“Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices,” DOE noted in its letter (.pdf) to these institutions. “Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them—particularly during the last four years—under the banner of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (‘DEI’), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline. But under any banner, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal.”

Clemson could lose significant federal funding in the event it is found to have run afoul of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Where does Clemson’s budget shortfall currently stand? Last week, Petillo told trustees the school was still experiencing “headwinds.”

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“Given what we’re seeing in terms of headwinds, slowing of revenue growth, focus on moderating expense growth is going to be a continued focus through ’25 and into ’26,” Petillo said.

This Sunday (May 4, 2025), Clemson announced it was extending the implementation of its previously announced “revenue-based budgeting” model – citing a need to conduct “further development in key areas, particularly expense management and baseline planning” and to “incorporate feedback from college and division leadership.”

The new model – which aims to ” align budget authority with accountability and responsibility” – was originally set to be implemented in July 2026. Clemson’s release did not say when it planned to launch the new budget model.

Clemson’s trustees will gather in July to draft the school’s next budget – which will be heavily reliant on the approval of its latest borrowing schemes as well as appropriations earmarked by the S.C. General Assembly.

Not surprisingly, soaring institutional debt is being passed along to students – and their parents. Per the latest figures from the Education Data Initiative, South Carolina’s $52.2 billion in total federal student loan debt works out to approximately $38,770 per borrower – the seventh highest figure in the country.

Are Palmetto State taxpayers receiving economic value commensurate with that burden?

Count on FITSNews to continue tracking Clemson’s bottom line and its ostensibly “mission critical” contributions to South Carolina’s economy…

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OUR VIEW…

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FITSNews has been outspoken for years in its view that “no taxpayer funding should go to institutions of higher learning – either in the form of direct appropriations, loan guarantees or student loans.”

Why not? Because higher education is not – and never has been – a core function of government. In other words, unlike cops, courts, roads, bridges and a limited, market-driven social safety net… higher education is not “mission critical.”

Colleges and universities should compete for tuition and loans in the marketplace based on the programs they offer – and the same goes for students seeking degrees from those institutions.

“If you can get a bank to lend you the money to pursue a degree in transexual Sanskrit studies or how whale farts contribute to El Niño … knock yourself out,” our founding editor Will Folks wrote last December. “Just don’t expect the American taxpayer to foot the bill.”

Institutions of higher education have become epicenters of taxpayer-subsidized indoctrination – and lynchpins of all sorts of crony capitalism.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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