As students flood back to our members' campuses after holiday break, SCICU looks forward to a very active and successful 2014. Some of the major events scheduled for early in the year include the Career Connections Career Fair on January 28 and the Student Research Symposium on February 13. The Finance and Executive Committees meet January 16 and January 30, respectively, and the Board of Trustees will be the guest of President Henry Tisdale at Claflin University in Orangeburg on February 25.

 

Legislative advocacy efforts, which never really end, ramp up at the beginning of each year. The South Carolina General Assembly reconvenes on January 14. Prior to the official starting date, however, the Higher Education subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee held budget hearings for several agencies including the Higher Education Tuition Grants Commission. In early February, SCICU President Mike LeFever and several college presidents will meet with members of the South Carolina Congressional delegation.

 

In the spring, SCICU and its members will celebrate Independent Colleges and Universities Week with the Excellence in Teaching Dinner on April 8 and SCICU State House Day on April 9.

 

For more details and a complete listing of events and meetings, please refer to the master calendar at  http://www.scicu.org/events.

 

SCICU is pleased to announce the addition of two new SCICU Scholar donors. Williams & Fudge, Inc. and The Timken Company join nine other companies that have established scholarship programs at SCICU. Each of these sponsors has pledged $10,000 annually. Williams & Fudge will fund a $500 scholarship at each of SCICU's 20 member colleges and universities. Timken will provide two $1,000 scholarships at Anderson University, Benedict College, Coker College, Converse College, and North Greenville University.

 

The Scholars Program was developed in 1994 to encourage investment in undergraduate student scholars at SCICU's member institutions. Donors to the Scholars Program recognize the need to encourage talented students to complete college degrees. Scholarship sponsors also realize that the cost of college may prove prohibitive to outstanding young people with high potential for long-term success and make a long-term commitment to provide scholarship support.  For the 2012-13 academic year, over $274,000 was awarded to 202 undergraduate students through the SCICU Scholars Program. Other scholar donors include The Bailey Foundation, BB&T, Colonial Life, Duke Energy, SC Student Loan Corporation, SCE&G, Sonoco, UPS, and Wells Fargo, for whom we are greatly appreciative.  

 

Williams & Fudge, Inc., located in Rock Hill, SC, was founded in 1986 and is a family-owned business with the purpose of serving the higher education community.  They aid colleges and universities in the recovery of education-related receivables.  Specific debt types include Perkins Loans (cohort management), tuition, campus-based institutional loans, Health Profession and Nursing Student Loans, private education (alternative) loans, and other receivables such as parking, room, board, and library fines. One of the company's founders, Gary Williams, joined the SCICU Board of Trustees in 2013.

 

The Timken Company, founded in 1899, is headquartered in Canton, Ohio, and has three locations in South Carolina (Duncan, Gaffney, and Honea Path). As a global industrial technology leader, Timken applies deep knowledge of metallurgy, friction management, and power transmission to improve the reliability and efficiency of machinery all around the world. Timken engineers, manufactures and markets mechanical components and high-performance steel. Their bearings, engineered-steel bars and tubes -- as well as transmissions, gearboxes, chain and related products and services -- support diversified markets worldwide. With $5.0 billion sales in 2012 and approximately 20,000 people operating from 30 countries, Timken makes the world more productive and keeps industry in motion.

 

SCICU appreciates the generosity of these two companies for their support of the Scholars Program and South Carolina's private non-profit colleges and universities and their students. For more information on Williams & Fudge, Inc. and The Timken Company, visit their websites at www.wfcorp.com and www.timken.com.

 

The Annual Report for SCICU's 2013 fiscal year (September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2013) has been printed and mailed to members of the Board of Trustees, donors, sponsors, and others who support independent higher education in South Carolina. 

 

In addition to celebrating SCICU's 60th anniversary, the report includes a summary of the organization's audited financial statements, donor and business partner recognitions, and a summary of the accomplishments and activities of the past year.

 

An online edition of the 2013 Annual Report is available in the Publications section of our website. For print copies, please contact Stephenie Bergen at Stephenie@sciuc.org. 

 

Representatives from 19 of SCICU's 20 members met in Columbia in December to plan advocacy efforts for the 2014 state legislative session. During the meeting, the campus legislative coordinators heard presentations from Earl Mayo, executive director of the SC Tuition Grants Commission, Craig Parks, senior research analyst for the Senate Finance Committee, and SCICU lobbyists Derial Ogburn and Darrell Campbell. Rep. Chandra Dillard, the 2013 SCICU Legislative Champion, provided an overview of the second session of the 120th General Assembly.

 

SCICU President Mike LeFever told the group that the organization's #1 legislative priority is to secure additional recurring funds to allow the Tuition Grants Commission to increase the maximum grant award from $2,900 to $3,000 in FY 2014-15.  The Commission initially requested $1.275 million to bring about the increase, but because there were fewer awards than projected in FY 2013-14, $300,000 is all that is needed to fund the $100 increase.

 

SCICU's second priority is to work with its many partners to advocate for full funding of Palmetto Fellows, LIFE, HOPE, and Lottery Tuition Assistance scholarships to all eligible students. Similarly, SCICU supports the budget request of the Commission on Higher Education to add $2.6 million for need-based student aid. The increase is needed to return funding to the level achieved in FY 2012-2013 after that year's $4,000,000 increase was not fully realized in the FY 2013-2014 budget.

 

Finally, SCICU supports CHE's budget request for $1,500,000 in additional recurring funds for the Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries (PASCAL). PASCAL was funded at the $2.0 million level prior to the FY 2008-2009 recession. Since that time, PASCAL has received inconsistent funding from surplus unclaimed lottery prize money. If new state revenues are not sufficient to restore core funding to PASCAL, SCICU supports continued funding at the current level of $164,289 in general appropriations and up to $1.5 million as a first priority in excess unclaimed lottery prize funds.

 

A main component of SCICU's advocacy efforts is the student letter writing campaign. Each year recipients of tuition grants send personal letters to their local legislators. In the letters, the students thank the legislators for the financial assistance and tell them how the grants have made a difference in their ability to attend the college of their choice.

Kendra Burnette, SMC and Lisa Van Riper, NGU accept awards for their institutions' involvement in letter writing campaign.

 

Before discussing the 2014 campaign, SCICU Executive Vice President Eddie Shannon recognized two schools that had outstanding 2013 letter writing campaigns. Students at North Greenville University were responsible for writing 1839 letters, and 79% of the tuition grant recipients at Spartanburg Methodist wrote letters. The college with the most improved program was Morris College. Gerald Polinsky explained the keys to the college's improved efforts. The 2013 combined campaign resulted in more than 7000 individual letters of appreciation.

 

The student advocacy campaign will culminate with SCICU State House Day on April 9, 2014. On that day, students at independent colleges and universities will assemble at the State House to meet with their legislators and thank them personally for their support of the Tuition Grants program.

Converse Students: Shaleshae Reid and Rashelle Smelcer

Since 1964, the Belle W. Baruch Foundation has owned and operated Hobcaw Barony, a 17,500- acre reserve used as a center for education and research. Hobcaw Barony is the largest piece of protected property on the east coast of the United States. Between Georgetown and Charleston lie 60 miles of shoreline that is operated either by private, state, or federal organizations for conservation. Both USC and Clemson University maintain laboratories on the property available for use by SCICU member independent colleges and their students. The Baruch Foundation has been a long-time contributor to the SCICU Undergraduate Faculty/Student Research Program, and SCICU Life Trustees W. Hayne Hipp, Hugh C. Lane, Jr., and Minor Mickel Shaw currently serve on the governing board of the foundation.

 

 

For the past three years, students participating in the SCICU Research Program have conducted research projects at Hobcaw Barony in Georgetown, SC. Research proposals submitted for funding consideration by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation must be in the following areas:  Marine Science, Forestry, Wildlife Management, History, Archeology, or Art History. 

 

Two students from Converse College, Shaleshae Reid and Rashelle Smelcer, recently completed their 2014 research project at Hobcaw Barony. Their research involved, among many topics, a study of the slave village located at Hobcaw Barony as well as the role of Belle Baruch, the Baroness of Hobcaw, as a "coastal observer" for NAZI U-boat and ship activity during World War II. The students got the full feel of Hobcaw Barony by staying in the former slave quarters while conducting their research.

 

The culmination of the SCICU Undergraduate Faculty/Student Research Program will be the student presentations of their research findings at the 2014 Research Symposium to be held February 13, 2014, at the BMW Zentrum Visitors Center located in Greer, SC.

We love to post accomplishments of our members on our Member College News section of our website and feature a few of the outstanding links in our monthly newsletter.

 

Here are some of the articles we featured this month:

Let us share your news and celebrate your successes. Send your releases to Stephenie Bergen at Stephenie@scicu.org.  

 

To see all of our Member College News, please click here. 

SCICU's on-line network of providers offers goods and services to the independent higher education community in South Carolina. The Business Partners program provides a convenient marketplace where SCICU member colleges and universities can preview offerings from some of the top companies in the country.