University of South Carolina

Scott Verzyl, University of South Carolina

Associate vice president for enrollment management at the University of South Carolina Scott Verzyl joins us this month to answer not five -- but seven -- questions about the Palmetto state's flagship school.

Founded in 1801 in the state capitol of Columbia, the story of USC is also a lesson in United States history. The school survived a name change, a fire and an earthquake and was spared in the path of Sherman's March because it operated as a hospital. The University closed briefly in 1861, however, in the aftermath of the Civil War. When it reopened in 1866, it would become the only southern state university to admit African-Americans during Reconstruction. It continued to ride the tide of post-Reconstruction southern politics, though, briefly closing and reopening as an all-white agricultural college. It weathered the Great Depression. Then progress solidified during World War II, when it hosted naval training programs. Returning GI's and later the baby boomers created enormous growth and the university made research a priority, creating a number of new programs and schools.

More Opportunity for Students

In More Students Migrate Away From Home, the Chronicle of Higher Education looks at the expansion of public universities' recruiting efforts across the country. In some cases that reflects budget problems at universities where declining state revenues have made bringing in higher tuition out-of-state students a larger priority. But in general this is good news for students as it opens up more universities -- and opportunities -- across the country to them.