Latest news with #JessicaHoldman
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Online students lose thousands of dollars following closure of SC's Limestone University
The Curtis Building pictured Tuesday, June 10,2025, on the Limestone University campus in Gaffney, South Carolina, served as the college's administration building until the school's closure at the end of April 2025. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) GAFFNEY — Limestone University required students to pre-pay for summer classes. Now that the college has closed for good, some say they're out thousands of dollars. The school's initial announcement that the 179-year-old, private college in South Carolina's Upstate needed to raise $6 million to stay open came as online students faced a deadline. On April 13, school officials told virtual students, including Mike Thielen, to submit their payments for summer classes within five days, according to emails reviewed by the SC Daily Gazette. The April 16 announcement of potential closure said online classes would continue, suggesting online students need not worry. But after two weeks of frantic fundraising fell short, the school's governing board ultimately voted for total closure. Online offerings ended too. 'That blindsided everybody,' Thielen said. It's been six weeks since the board vote. Thielen and half a dozen others say the school has still not refunded their money. Limestone personnel designated as a point of contact after closure have not responded to emails sent by the SC Daily Gazette. SC's Limestone University to close after nearly 2 centuries At first, Thielen received email replies from staff saying they were working on returning the $4,000 he paid for two classes. He followed up several times and received the same response until layoffs became official and people stopped returning messages altogether. 'I don't know if I'll ever see my money again,' Thielen said. 'Everyone is passing the buck. It's just really shameful.' Thielen enrolled in Limestone's online program while working for a Spartanburg software company, which had a partnership agreement with the school. When he took a new job, he continued studying with Limestone, hoping to become the first person in his family with a master's degree. The online Master of Business Administration student, who lives near Fort Worth, Texas, and works as a healthcare recruiter, was just three classes away from finishing his degree. Now he's left finding a new school — one that may not accept all of his transfer credits. And he'll have to come up with more money to pay for it, on top of what he lost. 'It was just a total failure of leadership,' he said. 'They rushed to shut it down and now they're hiding.' SC governor calls for study to consider consolidating colleges ahead of 'enrollment cliff' The story is similar for South Carolina Army National Guard member Thomas Martin. The master sergeant from Charleston has worked for the Guard full time for two decades and was pursuing a bachelor's degree in business on the side. Martin said Limestone's online program was a popular choice among his fellow guardsmen because they could use federal and state benefits offered to military members to pay for it. When Limestone's final spring semester ended, Martin still had about $1,000 in state aid available, which he had hoped to put toward summer classes or textbook costs. The school, which received students' allotment directly from the state Commission on Higher Education, has yet to credit him for those unused state dollars. 'I had a great experience with Limestone up until this,' he said. 'Now they're not even acknowledging my emails. It's disappointing.' Martin said he was repeatedly referred to South Carolina's higher education agency for help. The commission's staff told him they would research the matter but weren't hopeful that the aid dollars would be returned. Commission spokesman Mark Swart said the agency has not received any official, written complaints against Limestone at this time. He said the agency referred several students to Limestone's former chief of staff, who the school designated as a point of contact. Martin told the Gazette he didn't realize the complaint process existed. When Limestone announced the final decision to close, laying off 478 people employed by the college, leadership cited enrollment declines impacting colleges nationwide and rising costs as the drivers behind the school's financial straits. Limestone's enrollment fell by half over the past decade, from 3,214 students in fall 2014, according to state higher education data, to 1,600 this semester, including both online and in-person students, according to the university's announcement. Auditors reported the school had a $7.6 million operating loss as of June 2024. To make up for losses, the school had borrowed some $22 million from its small endowment, which had a balance of just $9.2 million last June. The school also faced an additional $30 million in debt, largely from a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development loan, which Limestone took out in 2018 to construct a new library and student center, purchase a residence hall and refinance previous debt. The school offered campus land and buildings as collateral. So far, USDA is not calling in that loan. In a statement, a USDA spokesperson said it 'takes its stewardship of taxpayer funds seriously' and 'continues to actively engage with the university's board and leadership to explore all available options to protect the federal investment and ensure the best possible outcome for the community and taxpayers.' The school also has not filed for federal bankruptcy protections. No liens have been filed against the school in South Carolina district court. Nor are there any small claims filings from students at this time. $500M for colleges, a bigger share for traditional public schools: How SC budget funds education Not only does Limestone's closure impact the college's students, it also affected college employees and 13 K-12 public charter schools that relied on the college's associated charter school management operations: Limestone Charter Association. A former employee has filed suit in federal court alleging the school violated national labor laws when it only gave two weeks' notice to workers. Federal law requires companies with 100 or more employees to give at least 60 days' notice for layoffs, though there are some exceptions. In its notice letter filed with the state employment agency, Limestone claimed the exemption allowed for employers actively seeking funding that an earlier notice could have jeopardized. The school has yet to respond in court filings. Meanwhile, the state Department of Education is allowing the Limestone Charter Association, which operates as a separate nonprofit with its own staff, to continue operations through the coming school year as the charter schools it serves search for a new authorizer. According to staff at the K-12 agency, the charter association will continue to receive state funding and act as an authorizer until July 1, 2026. It cannot accept any new schools starting July 1, 2025, and the state Education Department is recommending charter schools apply to a new authorizer by December. The Limestone Charter Association schools: South Carolina Preparatory Academy, Anderson South Carolina Preparatory Leadership School, Anderso East Link Academy, Greenville Global Academy of South Carolina, Spartanburg Mountain View Preparatory, Spartanburg Goucher Charter Academy, Gaffney Legion Collegiate Academy, Rock Hill Horse Creek Academy, Aiken OCSD High School for Health Professions, Orangeburg Summerville Prep, Summerville Oceanside Collegiate Academy, Mount Pleasant Atlantic Collegiate Academy, Myrtle Beach Coastal High School, Myrtle Beach
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New tech school investments to address increased enrollment, AI skills in manufacturing
Welders work to construct the Scout Motors paint shop in Blythewood April 10, 2025. Welding is among high-demand study programs at Midlands Technical College in Columbia without enough space to handle all who wish to enroll. (File photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) COLUMBIA — For students hoping to study building and construction, Midlands Technical College has only 11 seats remaining in the program for the coming fall semester. The welding program is already at capacity. And a second enrollment surge in August is still expected, meaning additional incoming students will likely be waitlisted. The Columbia-based technical college hopes to fix its capacity problems with a building expansion planned over the next several years. More space for Midlands Tech students training for a job in the building trades and a Greenville Tech center that merges manufacturing and technology skills are among the largest projects for South Carolina's technical colleges in the 2025-26 state budget. Legislators spent $16 million on each. In all, the spending package sent to Gov. Henry McMaster last week provides South Carolina's technical colleges with more than $150 million in one-time aid for building projects, maintenance and renovations. (See information box below.) Training in automotive, industrial electricity, heating and cooling, as well as welding and construction have all seen a surge in demand the last five years, said Robbie Sharpe, who heads Midlands Tech's building construction program. 'Students are having to wait a semester or two just to get into these programs, because we just don't have any more space,' Sharpe said. 'Our programs are busting at the seams.' SC tech schools seek $5M to expand dual enrollment for high schoolers in poor, rural districts For more than a decade, industry and educators have struggled with how to address a shortage of new workers in the trades as existing employees reach retirement age. Now it seems that recruitment effort is paying off, as long as technical schools in the Palmetto State can find the space to train them. 'The market is there. The jobs are there. The placement is there for our students,' Sharpe said. 'They're making really good wages coming out of these programs with virtually zero debt. It's just, we're just at the end of our rope.' In the meantime, Midlands has raised enrollment caps and added night classes. For example, Sharpe twice doubled the number of seats available in the construction program for the school year that just ended — going from 20 seats to 40 seats for first-year students in the fall and then going from 40 seats to 80 seats in the spring. He filled all but five of them. They've also asked students to start with math and English courses that fulfill general education requirements as they wait for seats to open up in their trade-specific classes. 'We're out of all of our creative options, and this isn't something that's going to go away anytime soon,' Sharpe said. For years, Sharpe said, parents and educators were pushing high school seniors to pursue a four-year degree while trade education fell to the wayside. 'I've seen the mentality of students change over the last decade, but I've never seen this much momentum behind it,' Sharpe said. 'People now realize that these are not second-rate jobs. They're honorable careers.' While the cost of a bachelor's degree has soared, scholarship programs for technical colleges, such as the $5,000-per-year S.C. Workforce Industry Needs (WINS) Scholarship that comes on top of other financial aid, are covering students' full tuition. When they graduate two years later, those same students are walking into jobs that pay upwards of $50,000 a year starting out. SC colleges have frozen tuition for several years. University presidents say that's not sustainable. Legislators approved $91.4 million for WINS Scholarships in the coming school year: $57.2 million from lottery profits and $34.2 million from the general fund. 'Now we have to kick it in high gear to get caught up (to demand),' Sharpe said. The $16 million legislators included in the state budget that takes effect July 1 for Midlands Tech is expected to fully cover the cost of expanding an existing building to add more classrooms and workshop space on its campus near the airport in West Columbia. But it will take the college several more years to design the space and complete construction. While all of the state's technical colleges have trades programs, those at Midlands Tech and Greenville Technical College are among the largest in the state. At the Upstate tech school that feeds major employers, such as BMW, Michelin and Lockheed Martin, efforts are focused on building a new $41 million Center for Industrial Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence. The state budget would cover $16 million of that cost. The purpose, according to Greenville Tech's spokeswoman Becky Mann, is to give the technicians who keep manufacturing lines up and running some expertise in cybersecurity and data science as artificial intelligence and other technologies become more ingrained in operations on the factory floor. 'Greenville Technical College will merge these two, high-demand skill sets in the Center for Industrial Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence, so that cybersecurity skills and artificial intelligence analytics protect plants against cyberattacks while anticipating and addressing maintenance needs and problems before they have a chance to occur,' according to a statement from the school. The school cited IBM's Threat Intelligence Index, which has ranked manufacturing as the most targeted industry for four years in a row. The sector accounted for 26% of all cyberattacks worldwide in 2024, exceeding finance, insurance, and energy. Among other major projects at South Carolina's tech schools is a $15 million 'Technical High School Workforce Center' at Central Carolina Technical College. The money is meant to fund a partnership for a future technical high school in Sumter to give those student access to college programs offered by Central Carolina's Industrial Department, according to budget documents provided to the SC Daily Gazette. 'CCTC supports initiatives that expand access to technical education and strengthen our state's workforce,' college spokeswoman Nicole Miles wrote in an email. No other details were available. There are 16 technical colleges statewide. Here's a breakdown of how the budget doles out $150 million to 14 of them for projects, maintenance and renovations. Two schools receive nothing in one-time aid in the budget that starts July 1: Denmark Technical College and Northeastern Technical College. • Aiken Technical College: $6.7 million • Central Carolina Technical College: $23.5 million • Florence-Darlington Technical College: $4 million • Greenville Technical College: $24 million • Horry-Georgetown Technical College: $8 million • Midlands Technical College: $28.5 million • Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College: $7.9 million • Piedmont Technical College: $7 million • Spartanburg Community College: $9.2 million • Technical College of the Lowcountry: $1 million • Tri-County Technical College: $9 million • Williamsburg Technical College: $1 million • York Technical College: $4 million Source: Legislature's 2025-26 state budget summary control document
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SC governor celebrates new law aimed at reducing insurance costs for restaurants, businesses
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, ceremoniously signed a law that aims to put the brakes on rising insurance costs faced by businesses. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) COLUMBIA — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster celebrated a law Wednesday that aims to put the brakes on rising insurance costs faced by businesses, especially bars and restaurants, in the Palmetto State. The new law, which the governor actually signed last week, gives establishments that sell alcohol options, as well as requirements, for reducing their minimum insurance coverage. It also reforms state rules surrounding personal injury lawsuits and how financial responsibility for fault is assigned while still ensuring victims are fully compensated. While the ceremony at the Statehouse was celebratory, several legislators were quick to remind the crowd the issue is far from over, even after the late-session compromise that made Wednesday's public signing possible. 'Progress on important policy matters is often frustratingly slow and incremental,' Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said. 'Today is a recognition of a step in the right direction, but it is a small step.' Senators give final OK to bill that aims to keep restaurants open, reduce business costs The Edgefield Republican ran point on the so-called tort reform effort and led negotiations to reach the final compromise that, in his mind, fell short of the broader bill passed by the Senate following an intense and, at times, combative debate. 'My hope is that this small step is not the only step,' Massey added. 'And that we use this small step to generate momentum for meaningful change that will then allow us to celebrate something that really matters.' For his part, House Judiciary Chairman Weston Newton, R-Bluffton, called Wednesday's ceremony 'a fulfillment of an overdue promise,' one made to a hospitality industry facing skyrocketing insurance costs and a shrinking number of carriers in the state willing to insure them because of previous laws passed by the Legislature. 'At no time should it be the government or the actions of government putting businesses out of business,' Senate President Thomas Alexander added. 'So today is about protecting businesses to make sure that they can be successful.' GOP leaders in the House had intended to focus this year simply on relief for restaurant owners. The new law does this by requiring all businesses that sell alcohol by the drink to have their servers complete alcohol training. In exchange, businesses can reduce what they pay for insurance. Installing scanners to verify that customers' IDs aren't fake, closing before midnight and increasing food sales are other options for buying down insurance costs. Insurance crisis is stopping new restaurants from opening, restaurateurs say To get the bill to the governor's desk, however, the House also agreed to include changes to rules governing personal injury lawsuits known as 'joint and several liability.' South Carolina's last attempt at such lawsuit reform, a law passed 20 years ago, held businesses responsible if they were more than 50% at fault. If no single business or person met that threshold, fault was divided proportionately. But lawsuits involving alcohol were specifically excluded from those rules, leaving them potentially owing 100% of damages, according to a statement from the governor's office. Ambiguity in the old law also impacted other businesses, as plaintiffs settled with smaller parties outside of court and only sued the person or group that could pay the biggest award. The compromise deletes the alcohol exclusion and requires the verdict form given to a jury to include everyone at fault when determining share of responsibility, including people and businesses that weren't named in a lawsuit. 'Getting to this day was not easy. At times disagreements and obstacles seemed impossible to overcome, rhetoric was sharp, emotions ran hot, and tempers flared,' McMaster said. Fights broke out on social media and right-wing influencers pumped out messages, resulting in even Donald Trump Jr. weighing in. 'From outside, there were some very deep, personal and I would call vicious attacks on some of our members in the Senate,' Alexander said. 'That's not South Carolina, and it's certainly not South Carolina at its best.' Ultimately, the GOP-controlled House and Senate came to an agreement. 'But I must say, our work is not finished. And we look forward to building on the momentum this bill signing — and the strength the coalition of leaders here — represents so that South Carolina can remain the economic development envy of our neighbors and of the entire country,' said Sara Hazzard, president of the S.C. Manufacturers Alliance. Hazzard and others hope to see a host of other issues, which were stripped from the Senate bill, addressed. That includes changes to medical malpractice and barring lawsuit extensions for construction defects that can stretch out liability beyond a decade. Most of the law's changes take effect Jan. 1, 2026.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
New law requires seatbelts for children riding in golf carts on SC roads
Golfers drive carts through the streets of Timberlake golf community near Chapin on Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) A new state law lets South Carolina cities set their own rules for where and when golf carts can be driven but requires a new rule for passengers: Children under 12 must buckle up. As initially proposed, the bill authorized any county to pass an ordinance allowing golf carts with headlights and rear lights to be driven at night. The purpose was to expand on permission that a 2016 law gave only to certain barrier islands. But the Senate took it further — letting municipalities 'stipulate the hours, methods, and locations' for daylight golf cart driving too and adding statewide the safety rule for children. 'I unfortunately have had the misfortune of seeing too many kids maimed and killed on golf carts,' said Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto. 'It's awful.' The Orangeburg Democrat works as an attorney and has handled such cases as part of his law practice. 'When you see golf carts go by and there are kids sitting on the back of these golf carts that are not in a seat belt, you know good and well if they slam on the brakes those kids going right off the back and maybe right in front of the car that's following them,' Hutto said during floor debate in the Senate earlier this month. Sen. Ronnie Cromer agreed, telling his fellow senators he had seatbelts installed in his wife's custom-built golf cart. 'I have seen kids at the beach that are riding on the back of those carts. How the parents were holding them in, I don't know,' the Prosperity Republican said. 'So I think that's a pretty good idea to force people to put seat belts on.' The seat belt rule came up as part of a larger debate about how South Carolina handles the recreational carts, which can be driven during daylight hours with a permit on any public road where the speed limit is 35 mph or less. Drivers must be at least 16 years old and have a driver's license. State law previously limited their usage to within 4 miles from the address where they're registered or within 4 miles of a gated community. However, local governments could reduce the allowed routes to 2 miles. The new law leaves that distance entirely up to local governments. The 4-mile rule stays intact for anywhere without its own ordinance. 'In the past, we've created exceptions … and it became sort of this patchwork quilt of golf cart regulations,' said Sen. Greg Hembree. Rather than continuing down that path, the Little River Republican instead urged legislators to overhaul the law, setting minimum standards but also giving all local governments the ability to enact tougher restrictions that go beyond what's in state law. 'Every community is a little different,' he said. 'Every community has its own unique dangers or areas that are safer. And it's more appropriate for that local government to make those decisions.' For example, towns might have certain areas where they don't want to allow golf carts to be used at all, Hembree said. 'And quite frankly, under this bill, a local government could regulate them out of existence in a community,' he said. The legislation passed both the House and Senate with almost no opposition. Gov. Henry McMaster signed it into law last Thursday. It took effect immediately.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Who sabotaged the budget to promote ‘conversion therapy'? Columbia deserves answers.
LGBTQ+ advocate Cora Webb was among those who testified at City Hall in Columbia, S.C., Tuesday, May 20, 2025, urging the city to maintain its ban on conversion therapy for minors. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) There's an old horror story: the call is coming from inside the house. In Columbia, that chilling metaphor might not be far from reality — and this time, it's not a fictional villain on the line, but the possibility that someone elected to protect the city may have quietly worked to harm it from within. Tuesday night Columbians of all stripes came out to tell the city: Don't repeal the ban on licensed healthcare providers giving minors so-called 'conversion therapy,' a discredited practice that seeks to force a change in sexual orientation or gender identity. Residents who had been victims of the barbarous practice shared heart-rending stories. Mental health professionals, religious and secular residents, gay and straight alike spoke – all in defense of keeping this important ban in place. City Council punted on the decision, giving residents and advocates a small reprieve. After the council meeting, Mayor Daniel Rickenmann told reporters that city leaders had 'sequestered' hospitality and accommodations tax funding — bracing for the possibility that the state Legislature would withhold support. That support, estimated at $3.7 million, now hangs in the balance because an ambitious, socially conservative senator from the Upstate disapproved of Columbia's policy to protect LGBTQ+ kids. Acting in the wake of Attorney General Alan Wilson's letter, that senator inserted language into the Senate's version of the budget making Columbia's public funding a hostage to ideological retaliation. And then a curious thing happened on Wednesday. After the conference committee completed its work of cobbling together the state budget, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Bruce Bannister — speaking about the inclusion of the proviso in their final package — said this about unnamed Columbia City Council members: 'They were supportive of us adopting the proviso … and that this would encourage their members to think a little harder about it.' When a reporter asked if the mayor specifically talked with them, Bannister said, 'I don't – it was someone. I neither confirm nor deny who was doing the work on that end.' That silence is deafening. Because if it turns out that any member of Columbia City Council lobbied state lawmakers to deliberately deny the city funds as a backdoor tactic to force the repeal of its ban on conversion therapy, then what we are dealing with is not just an instance of political pressure. It is a civic betrayal of the highest order. That being said, we can't lose focus. Columbia's ordinance banning conversion therapy — a practice condemned by every major medical and psychological association — is a life-affirming law designed to protect LGBTQ+ youth from psychological abuse masquerading as treatment. It took courage for City Council to enact it. Resistance to repealing the ordinance is paramount now more than ever. However, if now, through backroom dealings and veiled threats, city officials are attempting to reverse that moral stand by threatening a $3.7 million cut to Columbia's public budget, then they have not only undermined public trust — they have weaponized the state budget against their own citizens and constituents. That alone would be scandal enough. However, the intrigue doesn't seem to stop there. What makes it even more audacious is the decision to tie that political coercion to hospitality and accommodations tax (HTAX) funding. HTAX funding is the fuel behind the festivals that draw visitors from across the Southeast. It's a support that keeps our local arts scene vibrant, our public events safe and staffed, our nonprofits operational, our parks clean, and our local businesses booming. To tinker with that engine out of ideological spite — or worse, as a calculated move to pressure elected officials to fall in line — isn't just reckless. It's economically self-sabotaging. This isn't just a game of political chess. These are real dollars, real jobs, and real people whose lives depend on a functioning, forward-looking city government. And to even contemplate disrupting that system for the sake of dismantling protections for LGBTQ+ youth reveals a staggering disregard for both moral responsibility and fiscal stewardship. If the rumors are true — if the mayor or other officials worked behind closed doors to cut Columbia off from state support in hopes of toppling a policy they couldn't defeat in open debate — then they must be held accountable. Not just at the ballot box, but in the court of public opinion and historical memory. Because when elected leaders lobby against their own city's interests — when they betray the people they were sworn to serve — they don't just break public trust. They break the very foundation on which local democracy stands. And that, no matter what the political calculus, is indefensible.
