USC-Union may have survived to educate students another day.

The S.C. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee voted Thursday to allocate funding for the regional USC campuses in Allendale (Salkehatchie), Lancaster and Union for fiscal 2009-2010. Though the full House and the State Senate must approve it and Gov. Mark Sanford — who has called for the campuses to be closed — must sign it, State Rep. Mike Anthony said he feels confident the funding will be approved.

“This is the House version, but I know that Sens. (Harvey) Peeler, (Shane) Martin and (Creighton) Coleman will do everything possible to keep it in the Senate version as well,” Anthony said. “I feel there is broad support in both chambers of the General Assembly to maintain funding for USC-Union and the other regional campuses.”

Peeler, Martin and Coleman are members of the Union County Legislative Delegation with Anthony.

“I have been and will continue to be a champion for USC-Union,” Peeler said. “Now more than ever we need to keep the doors open. We need to think about a standing campus and not closing the doors.

“We’re standing united as a delegation in support of protecting USC-Union,” he said. “We fight at every turn to keep her doors open.”

The current state allocation for USC-Union is approximately $850,000. The Ways and Means Committee is recommending the same for fiscal 2009-2010.

The committee also included a proviso requiring USC to conduct a study of its regional campuses to determine if continued funding is justified. Anthony said that while he initially opposed such a study, conversations with members of the committee convinced him it was the right thing to do.

“The reason I feel comfortable about the study is that I’m certain we can justify the positive impact USC-Union has on the local economy as well as the opportunity for young people to participate in higher education,” he said. “At first, I was opposed to this, but a member of the Ways and Means Committee pointed out that the study would in all likelihood provide justification for keeping the campuses open. He added that this might end this governor’s efforts to try and close the campuses.”

The study must be completed by the end of January 2010. Anthony said this will make the study’s conclusions available to the General Assembly as it prepares for the 2010-2011 budget process. He added that the letters local residents have written to the legislature in support of USC-Union and articles in The Union Daily Times on its positive impact on the community will be part of the information gathered by the study.

USC-Union Dean Dr. Hugh Rowland welcomed the news and expressed confidence in the outcome of the study.

“We couldn’t be more delighted at USC-Union than to hear the outcome of the Ways and Means Committee’s deliberations,” he said. “Mike Anthony has done an outstanding job keeping USC-Union and the needs of Union County in front of the legislature.

“The past couple months in Union have been a celebration, an outpouring of concern from every corner for the critical purpose that USC-Union serves,” he said. “We have no fears whatsoever that when a study is done the same outpouring of concern and support will be heard in Columbia.”

USC-Union serves 400 students in Union and Laurens counties, a 9 percent increase over the fall semester.