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ONLINE COLLEGES, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND DEGREE PROGRAMS

South Carolina Colleges

South Carolina Colleges

South Carolina’s Schools – Overview

South Carolina, the Palmetto State, is home to more than 75 colleges, many of which are multi-campus institutions. Eight HBCU’s, 7 percent of the total, are found in South Carolina; Allen University, Benedict College, Claflin University, Clinton Junior College, Denmark Technical College, Morris College, South Carolina State University, and Voorhees College. The oldest and probably best known of the 8 HBCU’s listed above is South Carolina State University, which was founded in 1896, at a time when students in schools and colleges in South Carolina were segregated by race and educational opportunities for African-Americans were very limited.

Today, SCSU enrolls about 3,000 students. As it always has, SDSU still offers a good college education for nearly everyone who wants one by admitting about 95% of its applicants. Many other colleges in South Carolina, public and private, admit a high percentage of applicants.

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The best known four-year public universities in the state are the University of South Carolina and Clemson University. Predictably, the two universities are fierce sports rivals. USC serves about 30,000 students. In addition to a wide variety of other graduate programs, the university includes a medical school, a law school, and a school of osteopathic medicine. Clemson has about 20,000 students in undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It offers 100 graduate programs. The Clemson architectural program has been ranked tenth best in the country.

South Carolina’s specialty colleges include several technical colleges, one with nearly 15,000 students, and Sherman College of Chiropractic.

Bob Jones University, Presbyterian College, and Furman University are probably the best known of the independent colleges and universities in the state.

More than a dozen South Carolina institutions offer online courses, online certificates, and/or online degree programs at the undergraduate and the graduate levels.

Traditional Colleges in South Carolina

Anderson University

  • Site – www.ac.edu/index.php
  • Phone – 800-542-3594
  • Admissions – pbryant@andersonuniversity.edu
  • Financial Aid – finaid@andersonuniversity.edu

Clemson University

  • Site – www.clemson.edu
  • Phone – 864-656-2287
  • Admissions – cuadmissions@clemson.edu
  • Financial aid – finaid@clemson.edu

Charleston Southern University

  • Site – www.csuniv.edu
  • Phone – 800-947-7474
  • Admissions – enroll@csuniv.edu
  • Financial Aid – enroll@csuniv.edu

The Citadel

  • Site – www.citadel.edu
  • Phone – 800-868-1842
  • Admissions – admissions@citadel.edu
  • Financial Aid – financial.aid@citadel.edu

Coastal Carolina University

  • Site – www.coastal.edu
  • Phone – 800-277-7000 ext. 2026
  • Admissions – admissions@coastal.edu
  • Financial Aid – finaid@coastal.edu

Coker College

  • Site – www.coker.edu
  • Phone – 800-950-1908
  • Admissions – admissions@coker.edu
  • Financial Aid – financial_aid@coker.edu

College of Charleston

  • Site – www.cofc.edu
  • Phone – 843-953-5670
  • Admissions – admissions@cofc.edu
  • Financial Aid – financialaid@cofc.edu

Columbia College

  • Site – www.columbiacollegesc.edu
  • Phone – 803-786-3871
  • Admissions – nwhite@colacoll.edu
  • Financial Aid – nwhite@colacoll.edu

Columbia International University

  • Site  – www.ciu.edu
  • Phone – 800-777-2227
  • Admissions – yesciu@ciu.edu
  • Financial Aid – finaid@ciu.edu

Converse College

  • Site – www.converse.edu
  • Phone – 800-766-1125
  • Admissions – admissions@converse.edu
  • Financial Aid – financial_aid@converse.edu

Erskine College

  • Site – www.erskine.edu
  • Phone – 800-241-8721
  • Admissions – admissions@erskine.edu
  • Financial Aid – pressly@erskine.edu

Francis Marion University

  • Site – www.fmarion.edu
  • Phone – 800-368-7551
  • Admissions – admission@fmarion.edu
  • Financial Aid – finasst@fmarion.edu

Grand Valley State University

  • Site – www.gvsu.edu
  • Phone – 616-331-5000
  • Admissions – www.gvsu.edu/admissions
  • Financial Aid – www.gvsu.edu/financial aid

Lander University

  • Site – www.lander.edu
  • Phone – 888-4LANDER
  • Admissions – admissions@lander.edu
  • Financial Aid – finaid@lander.edu

Newberry College

  • Site – www.newberry.edu
  • Phone – 800-845-4955 ext 5127
  • Admissions – Admissions@Newberry.edu
  • Financial Aid – CFlaherty@Newberry.edu

North Greenville University

  • Site – www.ngu.edu
  • Phone – 800-468-6642
  • Admissions – admissions@ngu.edu
  • Financial Aid – admissions@ngu.edu

Presbyterian College

  • Site – www.presby.edu
  • Phone – 800-960-7583
  • Admissions – admissions@presby.edu
  • Financial Aid – admissions@presby.edu

Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic

  • Site – www.sherman.edu
  • Phone – 800-849-8771
  • Admissions – admissions@sherman.edu
  • Financial Aid – cnendel@sherman.edu

South Carolina State University

  • Site – www.scsu.edu
  • Phone – 803-536-7185
  • Admissions – admissions@scsu.edu
  • Financial Aid – SDAVIS@SCSU.EDU

Southern Wesleyan University

  • Site – www.swu.edu
  • Phone – 800-CU.AT.SWU
  • Admissions – www.swu.edu/admissions
  • Financial Aid – jdennis@swu.edu

University of South Carolina Aiken

  • Site – www.usca.sc.edu
  • Phone – 888-WOW-USCA
  • Admissions – admit@sc.edu
  • Financial Aid – admit@sc.edu

University of South Carolina at Columbia

  • Site – www.sc.edu
  • Phone – 800-868-5872
  • Admissions – admissions-ugrad@sc.edu
  • Financial Aid – uscfaid@sc.edu

Winthrop University

  • Site – www.winthrop.edu
  • Phone – 800-763-0230
  • Admissions – admissions@winthrop.edu
  • Financial Aid – finaid@winthrop.edu

Wofford College

  • Site – www.wofford.edu
  • Phone – 864-597-4130
  • Admissions – lancasterms@wofford.edu
  • Financial Aid – switzerlb@wofford.edu

South Carolina – Community Colleges

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Aiken Technical College

  • Site – www.atc.edu
  • Address – 2276 Jefferson Davis Hwy, Graniteville, SC 29829
  • Phone – (803) 593-9231

Central Carolina Technical College

  • Site – www.cctech.edu
  • Address – 506 N Guignard Dr, Sumter, SC 29150
  • Phone – (803) 778-1961

Denmark Technical College

  • Site – www.denmarktech.edu
  • Address – 1126 Soloman Blatt Blvd, Denmark, SC 29042
  • Phone – (803) 793-5176

Florence-Darlington Technical College

  • Site – www.fdtc.edu
  • Address – 2715 W Lucas St, Florence, SC 29501
  • Phone – (843) 661-8324

Greenville Technical College

  • Site – www.gvltec.edu
  • Address – 506 S Pleasantburg Dr, Greenville, SC 29607
  • Phone – (864) 250-8000

Horry-Georgetown Technical College

  • Site – www.hgtc.edu
  • Address – 2050 US-501, Conway, SC 29526
  • Phone – (843) 347-3186

Midlands Technical College

  • Site – www.midlandstech.edu
  • Address – 316 S Beltline Blvd, Columbia, SC 29205
  • Phone – (803) 738-8324

Northeastern Technical College

  • Site – www.netc.edu
  • Address – 1201 Chesterfield Hwy, Cheraw, SC 29520
  • Phone – (843) 921-6900

Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College

  • Site – www.octech.edu
  • Address – 3250 St Matthews Rd, Orangeburg, SC 29118
  • Phone – (803) 536-0311

Piedmont Technical College

  • Site – www.ptc.edu
  • Address – 620 Emerald Rd N, Greenwood, SC 29646
  • Phone – (800) 868-5528

Spartanburg Community College

  • Site – www.sccsc.edu
  • Address – 107 Community College Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29303
  • Phone – (864) 592-4600

Spartanburg Methodist College

  • Site – www.smcsc.edu
  • Address – 1000 Powell Mill Rd, Spartanburg, SC 29301
  • Phone – (864) 587-4000

Technical College of the Lowcountry

  • Site – www.tcl.edu
  • Address – 921 Ribaut Rd, Beaufort, SC 29902
  • Phone – (843) 525-8211

Tri-County Technical College

  • Site – www.tctc.edu
  • Address – 7900 u 76, 7900 US-76, Pendleton, SC 29670
  • Phone – (864) 646-8282

Trident Technical College

  • Site – www.tridenttech.edu
  • Address – 7000 Rivers Ave, North Charleston, SC 29406
  • Phone – (843) 574-6111

University of South Carolina/Lancaster

  • Site – usclancaster.sc.edu
  • Address – 476 Hubbard Dr, Lancaster, SC 29720
  • Phone – (803) 313-7000

University of South Carolina/Salkehatchie

  • Site – uscsalkehatchie.sc.edu
  • Address – 154 Spruce St, Allendale, SC 29810
  • Phone – (803) 584-4953

University of South Carolina/Sumter

  • Site – www.uscsumter.edu
  • Address – 200 Miller Rd, Sumter, SC 29150
  • Phone – (803) 775-8727

University of South Carolina/Union

  • Site – uscunion.sc.edu
  • Address – 309 E Academy St, Union, SC 29379
  • Phone – (864) 427-3681

Williamsburg Technical College

  • Site – www.wiltech.edu
  • Address – 601 Martin Luther King Jr Ave, Kingstree, SC 29556
  • Phone – (843) 355-4165

York Technical College

  • Site – www.yorktech.com
  • Address – 452 S Anderson Rd, Rock Hill, SC 29730
  • Phone – (803) 327-8000

Trade, Vocational & Career Colleges – SC

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Charleston

Art Institute of Charleston

ECPI College of Technology

Medical Careers Institute

Miller Motte Technical College

Strayer University

ECPI College of Technology

Medical Careers Institute

Southern Wesleyan University

Strayer University

University of Phoenix

Columbia

ECPI College of Technology

Medical Careers Institute

Strayer University

Online Colleges in South Carolina

South Carolina, much like its neighbor to the north, is not a particularly popular state for online educational degree programs. According to a 2012 National Center for Educational Statistics report, only 5.9% of students enrolled in Title IV schools were taking fully-online degree programs. This is behind even North Carolina, which also showed low numbers among students enrolled in such programs. In total, there are 41 colleges and universities in the state that offer some form of online degree program. A good portion of these are public institutions, while the majority of them are offered through private institutions, both not-for-profit and for-profit. The top five schools in the state for online degree programs are North Greenville University, University of South Carolina-Upstate, University of South Carolina-Columbia, Columbia College and Limestone College.

Prospective students will find that the most affordable colleges in the state are unfortunately on the high end regarding both tuition costs and per-credit costs. Limestone College, considered the most affordable program in the state, has the lowest annual tuition at under $9,500, but also has one of the highest per-credit costs ($1,170). The next four most affordable programs are mostly above $10,000 a year in tuition. These include Anderson University ($9,384 a year, $391 per-credit), University of South Carolina-Upstate ($10,068 a year), Coastal Carolina University ($10,140 a year) and Lander University ($10,418 a year). The majority of the most affordable online degree programs in the state are only offered through an annual tuition, and not on a per-credit basis.

Several of the institutions are not only highly ranked, but also provide a variety of options for undergraduate and graduate degrees. North Greenville University, a private Christian college, offers several graduate programs through its online system. These include a Master’s in Business Administration, a Master’s in Christian Ministry, and three Master’s in education: Education (general), Arts and Teaching and Music Education. The school is well ranked regionally at #27 among regional colleges, according to the U.S. News and World Report. The University of South Carolina-Columbia is not only ranked extremely well (#108 among national universities), it also provides many different Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as well as a variety of different individual courses. Among the Bachelor’s degrees, prospective students will find those in Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Elementary Education, Human Services, Liberal Studies, Organizational Leadership and Nursing. Among the online Graduate degrees, students will find programs in Education, Nursing, Public Health and Information Technology.

Despite having higher costs most other states in the south, South Carolina’s colleges and universities are well-ranked and provide excellent educational value for the cost. Although most students in the state prefer to take their degree programs in a more traditional setting, there are many programs available that will provide students with an valuable learning experience and career-building degree.

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