Writing in The State newspaper, former Abbeville County State Representative Harry Stille, himself a former college professor, sounded a call for reforming higher ed in South Carolina, warning that:

For years the Legislature and universities have conned us about the value of a baccalaureate degree, when these students would have been better off in the two-year system. Our technical colleges are where the major job growth potential is.

We need to limit university admissions to students who are in the top 50 percent of each high school class, who don’t need remedial classes and who score at least 910 on the SAT or 19 on the ACT. And we should send the rest of the students to the two-year system, where they, and we, will get their money’s worth.

Recently, the Post and Courier sounded off on the issue of higher ed construction spending:

Over the last four years, construction costs at our state's colleges have totalled about $1 billion, according to a recent report in The Greenville News. Since the recession began, building projects valued at $60 million have been approved.

College officials cite the necessity of keeping up with the demands for program improvements and growth. And they make the point that building expenses don't come from the same pot of money that colleges depend on for operating expenses.

Nevertheless, it is still reasonable to question whether a building boom is warranted during these tough economic times.

Gov. Mark Sanford's proposed $5.8 billion state budget includes cuts of $301,000 in the University Center's recurring-funds allocation for the fiscal year beginning in July. Fred Baus, president and chief executive officer of the University Center, said that would put it "in the position of going from $2.25 million to $650,000" in operating funds.

"That is not viable," he said.

Without the University Center, which serves about 2,200 students a year, Greenville would be the only major metropolitan area in the state without a public institution of higher education, he said.

Ben Haskew, chief executive of the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce, said, "I think closing it would be catastrophic for Greenville. We are on a mission to improve per capita income and transition to a new economy. It's all about education."

Bruce Yandle, dean emeritus of the Clemson University College of Business and Behavioral Science, said the University Center has been important and will continue to be important to the Greenville area because of the students it educates and the businesses it helps attract to the Upstate.

Without the consortium of seven universities that make up the University Center, calls would increase for a public university in Greenville County, costing a minimum of $20 million, said former Lt. Gov. Nick Theodore, member and former chairman of the center's board of visitors.

Students and their parents can attest to a painful truth about college costs: They’ve been on a rocket ship rise for years. And there is no end in sight.

Paying for college is especially tough in South Carolina, where public universities are the most expensive in the Southeast.

Lauren Johnson, a 20-year-old junior at Winthrop University, said she has two scholarships, a Pell Grant and a student loan, and she still has a hard time covering all of her costs.

“Each year, tuition goes up,” said Johnson, the daughter of a military family that settled in Columbia. “We’re scrambling even more to try to figure out how to pay for this.”

Molly Emerson, a 19-year-old volunteer for the Obama campaign, said college costs were “a huge consideration” in determining which candidate would get her support.

“The costs are astronomical,” said Emerson, who is taking a year off from college to help the Obama campaign. “I’m one of four children. My parents have many more years of costs.”

Like Emerson, Johnson is also supporting Obama, and college costs are one of the main reasons.

In "Michigan needs to look south", in the Detroit News, columnist Daniel Howes looks at how the Carolinas are working to partner higher education with cutting-edge manufacturing technology development, and in doing so, is leaving Detroit behind.

The business-and-political establishment of the Carolinas is doing what their counterparts in Michigan and here on Mackinac Island are only beginning to comprehend amid a gloomy fiscal outlook: Leveraging the power of higher education drives economic growth, attracts foreign and domestic investment and improves the caliber of would-be employees.

Now, it's Clemson University in South Carolina -- not the University of Michigan -- that is home to the International Center for Automotive Research, a 200-acre campus that BMW AG built for $100 million and donated to Clemson.

USC aims to boost transfers from Greenville Technical College from last fall’s 31 students to hundreds with a Bridge program university officials say will ensure a Greenville Tech student a seamless admission to the Columbia campus after one year of successful academic work.

USC president Andrew Sorensen said Tuesday he envisions a parallel academic experience between students who sign up for the Bridge program and those who begin their college lives on the Columbia campus.