Money Matters

These days, given recent economic volatility, money still matters to just about everybody. As the second decade of the century begins, shadows of the 2008 Great Recession linger, and occasionally turn stormy, creating concerns about what’s called a “double-dip recession.”

As a result, South Carolina’s public colleges and universities are continuing to see their state financial support plummet, reflecting a trend that started even before the national economic crisis of 2008. To date, Winthrop University’s state support has been reduced by about half, and now just 9.6 percent of the university’s revenue comes from state general tax funds. The remainder is provided via grants, contracts and donor support, with the largest share coming from tuition and fees.

Winthrop has responded to the these troubled times with a commitment to protecting students’ academic experience, the safety of the campus, and the vitality of the campus community. It has absorbed each in a series of appropriation reductions with a sense of sharing sacrifice -- including the one-time use of nine unpaid furlough days for every employee during the second half of the 2008-2009 academic year. Tuition increases have been kept to a minimum – just 3.9 percent for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Considerable work has gone into reducing spending as well. In April 2009, President Anthony DiGiorgio authorized a 15-month initiative called “Readiness Winthrop,” designed to review, reflect, re-think, revise, re-organize and re-vamp all the work encompassed in university operations, with the goal of reducing spending while protecting and enhancing quality and value for students. Initiatives emerging from this work were incorporated into Winthrop’s work plan, the Vision of Distinction, for 2011-12.

As in many sectors of the economy, adjustments to “the New Normal,” are on-going, though Winthrop’s commitment to meeting its legal mandate to be a “first-class institution of higher learning,” adding features “as the progress of the times requires,” remains strong.

To assist students, parents and the public with understanding important higher education Money Matters, this page will provide important basic information, as well as an opportunity to ask questions about how Winthrop is coping and will continue to cope in present circumstances while providing students a sustainable education meeting the demands of the times.