The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-07-01
THE STATE UNIVERSITY.
Free Tuition In the South Carolina Col.
lege-II. The Statutory Argument.

~ the Hon. Is. ". Edlrdrds of Ddriing-
ton, s. CT
The only answe to this is. that the
instructions Of the Legislature to the
trustees, rs to charging tuition fees, are
not clear, and hence they must resort to
h Constitution for calculation. To say
the least, this is not very complimentary
to creative authority. And moreover. if
the instructions are only p: ina .facie,
they arc controlling and authoritative un-
til nullified by higher authority. But
is it not clear enough that the Lcgisla-
ture intended TINT tuition should be
charged ? Let the act interpret the in
tent. By the Act Of 1873, Section "a. it
is provided that ':The tuition fees shall
not exceed the sum Of forty dollars per
annnm for all the branches taught in
either college, which fees shall be de-
posted in the State treasury and report
cd to the Legislature annually !; and the
compensation for room-rent, use Of IL
brary and damage to properly shall be
regulated by the board of trustees" ZIG
Stat, $3.50 Now, it is said by some
that the charging Of tuition is not man
datory-that this section only pre-
scrihes n limit for tuition fees, if any
Charge be made and that charging none
does not exceed the limit. 1t will be
observed by an ingenious test Of this
section that a charge for tuition is as
snmed. for there could be no tuition. fees
to "be deposited in the State treasury
and reported to the Legislature anna
aUy," if not student paid tuition. By
the Goth Section of the same Act it is
provided that one student from each
county shall be admitted into each COL
lego Of tho University, who shall be en-
titled to tuition free of CHARGE" Er-
P''essio untus, erciusio. alterius. An
exception of one from paying tuition
necessarily implies that the other are
to pay 1t. This is too plain for contro-
Zcrsy.
If we run back into the history of
legislation on the University. we shall
see why the Legislature took it for
granted that tuition would be charged.
1t is to be observed that the Constitution
OF 1865 recognized the existence of the
university-did not provide for it's crea-
tlon-and only directed the Legislature
to provide for its maintenance" By
the Act of 1865 Q3 Stat, 313,) it is pre-
vided that the corporation created by
an Act entitled tAn Act to establish a
college Of Columbia ratified" 10 De-
ccmber 1901 "shall hereafter be known
by the name Of the University of South
Carolina, and rs such shall be entitled
to all the rights and be liable to all the
the duties conferred and imposed upon
the said original corporation by the said
Act and all the amendments.thcrcto. ex-
cept where the same shall be modified
by the provisions OF this Act" The trus-
tees of the old college had been charg-
ing the uniform tuition fee of fifty dol
lars. One Of the notifications cngraft-
ed upon the college, by the Act of 1865,
Was a change in tuition fees. BY the
4th2 Section Of that Act it is pro-
yldedt that 1.-THE fees to be paid by each
student shall be as follows If the stu
dent enters three schools or more, for
each school he shall pay 1926 per annum,
IT the student enters two schools
only, for each school thirty-fve dollars
per annum if the student enters onlv
one school, fifty dollars per annum.n
Another modification was a provision
for profcssorships Of law and of medi
cine. This Act also. provided for the
admission Of on student from each
county (district) who should be exempt
from tuition charges.
1t was in this condition that the fran.
ers OF the Constitution Of 1868 found
and recognized the University, in its
status as a tuition-c charging institution.
n feature of the institution. ms
nave shown above, was also recognized
by the Act Of 1863, which further modi-
Ted to be amendatory of the "Acts in
cooperating the University" So that,
when the Legislature, in 1873, came to
make further notifications, the lar OF
the University was to change tuition.
Unless that law was repealed by the
Act of 1878, 1t still exists, So far from
bring repealed, its existence was assum-
ed and the law amended, SO as to limi,
the charges for full course. The
charges had been graded, according to
the schools enterod, both by the Act
OF 1885 and the Act 1869, 10 that.
by the former, it might run us high as
seventy-ive dollars, and by the latter,
as high as ninety-five dollars. The Act
OF 1873 simply restricts tuition fees,
/. 20 forty dollars pep arnum for all the
branches taught in either College,
have thus discussed the statutory