Winthrop Board of Trustees Approves Budget and Sets Meal Plan Rates

ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – The Winthrop University Board of Trustees approved a $119 million core operating budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year at its June 27 meeting.

Kevin Butler, interim CFO and vice president for finance and business affairs, said the budget is balanced based on anticipated revenues and expenses. It contains an 8-percent tuition decrease for students and uses a conservative estimate of revenues that the university is expected to bring in for the new fiscal year which starts July 1. As part of the budget, the state will provide Winthrop $36 million in non-capital funds.

Board members made history at the meeting as they approved Winthrop’s first doctoral-level program, the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership and Innovation, which will be offered through the Richard W. Riley College of Education, Sport and Human Sciences. “This has broad support in the region,” said Provost Sebastian van Delden in explaining the need for such a degree.

The program still must be approved by the S.C. Commission on Higher Education and the university’s accreditation organization.

In other news from the quarterly meeting, board members:

• Agreed to a 5-percent increase in the student rates for all meal plans, a move that is necessary to absorb the increasing costs of food services. Housing rates were set at the April board meeting.
• Ratified the student housing contract with W2C Eleven, LLC, for up to 320 beds at the nearby CampusWalk facility for a period of three years in order to provide needed housing for students. This will help provide housing near the campus as two of its residence halls will be demolished soon.
• Approved the Bachelor of Science in artificial intelligence and the Bachelor of Science in financial technology, both to be offered through the College of Business and Technology.
• Set the subscription rate for the Competency-Based Education modality which will launch in spring 2025. Designed for non-traditional students, this initiative takes online learning to its ultimate potential, van Delden said. The costs are $3,500 for full-time students and $1,750 for part-time students, for a total cost of just $17,500 for most students to complete their bachelor’s degree. This rate will impact new students in the university’s first CBE degree offering, the Bachelor of Professional Studies.
• Approved the modification of language in the previously adopted Mission, Vision, Values statements to reflect minor changes requested by the Commission on Higher Education.
• Adopted the plans, schedules and costs for the replacement of the McBryde Hall roof for $754,069 by Premiere Roofing and the demolition of Wofford and Richardson residence halls for $3.26 million by Leitner Construction. The demolition of the two residence halls facing Cherry Road has been pushed back from this summer to later this fall.
• Voted to move forward with the Southwest Gateway Project to begin $400,000 in renovations to enhance the campus entrance connecting Winthrop to University Center at Knowledge Park.
• In regards to the Courtyard, approved the extension of the current financing with Wells Fargo for an additional six to nine months beyond the current maturity date in August and authorized the Winthrop University Real Estate Foundation to seek alternative financing solutions for the balance of debt during this extension period.
• Heard an update on legislative affairs from Gary Simrill. He shared that in the state’s budget, there is money set aside for state employee raises. State employees earning less than $50,000 a year will receive a $1,125 pay raise. Those earning more will receive a 2.25 percent increase.

For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at longshawj@winthrop.edu.