| Location | Columbia, United States | Funding Type | Public |
|---|---|---|---|
| No of Students | 32127 | Establishment | University |
| Founded In | 1801 | Estimated Cost of Living | 14000 USD |
| Address | Columbia, SC 29208, United States |
Founded in 1801, then-South Carolina College flourished pre-Civil War, overcame postwar struggles, was rechartered in 1906 as a university, and transformed itself as a national institution in the 20th and 21st centuries.
South Carolina College, est. 1801
The Palmetto State established South Carolina College — the precursor to the University of South Carolina — on Dec. 19, 1801, as part of an effort to unite South Carolinians in the wake of the American Revolution. South Carolina's leaders saw the new college as a way to promote "the good order and harmony" of the state.
The founding of South Carolina College was also a part of the Southern public college movement spurred by Thomas Jefferson. Within 20 years of one another, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia established state-supported colleges.
In the antebellum era, the Palmetto State generously supported South Carolina College. The institution featured a cosmopolitan faculty, including such noted European scholars as Francis Lieber and Thomas Cooper, as well as renowned American scholars John and Joseph LeConte. Offering a traditional classical curriculum, South Carolina College became one of the most influential colleges in the South before 1861, earning a reputation as the training ground for South Carolina's antebellum elite.
The Horseshoe campus
The campus grew around the modified quadrangle of the Horseshoe. In 1805, four years after the college was chartered, it's the first building, Rutledge was completed. Classes began that year with two faculty members and nine students.
As the only academic facility, Rutledge served as classroom, lab, library, chapel, and student and faculty housing until DeSaussure was completed on the north side of the Horseshoe in 1809. Throughout the next 38 years, the Horseshoe took shape with eight more buildings. (The Horseshoe's 11th building, and the only one not built in the 19th century, is McKissick, completed in 1940.)
From the architectural design and influence of Robert Mills, the nation's first federal architect and the designer of the Washington Monument, to the South Caroliniana Library as the first freestanding college library building in the nation, every brick and inscription on the original Horseshoe campus reveals a small chapter of our eventful history.
The University of South Carolina is one of the oldest and most comprehensive public institutions of higher education in the US, with its main campus in the state capital, Columbia.
The flagship campus offers more than 320 degrees at bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral level, and educates more than 30,000 students on a 360-acre site.
The Columbia campus is divided into 15 different schools and colleges, each reflecting different areas of research and educational expertise. In addition, there is the South Carolina Honors College, which offers liberal arts-style education in a state university setting.
USC has seven satellite campuses, which offer a range of degrees and qualifications. It also runs an innovation district called Innovista, looking to commercialize research in key areas of strength such as biomedicine, nanotechnology, environmental science, and alternative fuels.
The history of the university stretches back to 1801 when South Carolina College was established as part of the Southern public college movement which was encouraged by Thomas Jefferson.
The institution flourished in the decades prior to the American Civil War, with the historic horseshoe-shaped campus district which still stands today taking shape during this era.
But the war had a devastating impact on the institution, forcing its closure in 1863 as students volunteered for Confederate service.
The institution was re-established in 1865 as the University of South Carolina, and led the way on racial integration for a time, enrolling its first black students in 1873 – the only southern state university to do so.
However, funding shortages forced the closure of the university again in 1877, and it reopened three years later as an all-white agricultural college. Black students were not admitted again until 1863.
Nowadays, the Irvin department of rare books and special collections is home to the world’s largest collection of works by Ernest Hemingway and the largest collection of Robert Burns's works and associated Scottish literature outside Scotland.
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