South Carolina State University is making dreams come true for students when it recently announced that it planned to erase $9.8 million in student debts from their books. They anticipate that this will affect over 2,500 students.
SC State University Acting President Alexander Conyers said in a press release that the school is “committed to providing these students with a clear path forward so they can continue their college education and graduate without the burden of financial debt caused by circumstances beyond their control.”
“No student should have to sit home because they can’t afford to pay their past-due debt after having experienced the financial devastation caused by a global pandemic,” he said.
According to USA Today SC State University students lauded the move as a “big blessing,” according to Kevyn Rice, a junior at the school from Spartanburg, South Carolina.
“This gives students a new opportunity at life and at having a successful education,” Rice said in the release. “It helps bring some stability and lets me know I am welcomed at our HBCU.”
Leslie Young, a freshman from Santee, South Carolina, who did not take classes during the spring semester because she was unable to pay her tuition, said the “news brings tears to my eyes.”
“My family is very low income,” she said. “I was in a deep depression because school means everything to me. Without it, I felt like I was giving up on my dreams.”
How this will be funded
The decision to erase the debt was based on the $10 million dollars the school has received in Federal aid SC State University is utilizing approximately $4 million in funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, and $5.8 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Both pieces of legislation provided economic relief to Americans, businesses, and other organizations amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The South Carolina school isn’t the first to cancel debts from students in recent months. Wilberforce University announced last month it would clear more than $375,000 in debt, including fines, fees, and other balances paid directly to the school.
Way to go HBCU!
