University cuts credit hours to become cheaper while raising tuition

Winthrop University has initiated a campus goal to help more students attain degrees while saving families money. However, the South Carolina university has consistently increased the cost of tuition, while cutting the number of credit hours needed to graduate.

The campus-wide change will reduce required credit hours from 124 to 120.

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Jamie Comstock Williamson, President of Winthrop University, claims that this move will help students graduate within the typical four years and will save families money.

“To improve our graduation rate, we have to eliminate barriers to students graduating on time,” she told The State. 

However, Winthrop’s 55 percent graduation rate is already above the national average.

The cutting of required classroom hours to lighten the financial burden comes on the heels of pay raises for administrators and multiple raises in fall, spring, and summer tuition costs.

Recent pay raises include $27,442 for the school’s police chief and $26,192 for the university’s athletic director.

Between 2007 and 2013, spring and fall semester tuition rates were increased by 37 percent.

Similarly, summer tuition jumped 40 percent this year and now costs $420 per credit hour, a total of $1,260 for the university’s typical three-hour class. The change, the first time Winthrop has upped summer tuition in at least eight years, was announced via campus website just 20 days before registration for summer classes began.

The Charlotte Observer reports that students and faculty alike were caught off guard by the sudden increase, making attendance at the university more difficult, not less.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @LaurenACooley