There are 60 colleges and universities in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The University of South Carolina in Columbia is the largest university in the state, by enrollment. [1] Trident Technical College in North Charleston is the largest two-year college. [2] The oldest institution is the College of Charleston, founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785. [3]
The majority of colleges and universities in South Carolina are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). [4] There are eight historically black colleges and universities. [5]
The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville are the only medical schools in the state accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). [6]
Charleston School of Law and the University of South Carolina School of Law are American Bar Association (ABA) approved law schools. [7]
Schools based in other states offer programs at locations in South Carolina: [8]
South Carolina is a state in the coastal Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia to the southwest across the Savannah River. Along with North Carolina, it makes up the Carolinas region of the East Coast. South Carolina is the 40th-largest and 23rd-most populous U.S. state with a recorded population of 5,118,425 according to the 2020 census. In 2019, its GDP was $213.45 billion. South Carolina is composed of 46 counties. The capital is Columbia with a population of 136,632 in 2020; while its most populous city is Charleston with a 2020 population of 150,227. The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area is the most populous combined metropolitan area in the state, with an estimated 2023 population of 1,590,636.
Columbia is the capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-most populous city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. It is the center of the Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 858,302 in 2023, and is the 70th-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States. The name Columbia is a poetic term used for the United States, derived from the name of Christopher Columbus, who explored for the Spanish Crown. Columbia is often abbreviated as Cola, leading to its nickname as "Soda City".
Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the 6th-most populous city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway between Atlanta, Georgia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, along Interstate 85. Its metropolitan area also includes Interstates 185 and 385. Greenville is the anchor city of the Upstate, a combined statistical area with an estimated population of 1,590,636 in 2023. Greenville was the fourth fastest-growing city in the United States between 2015 and 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-most populous city in the state. For a time, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) grouped Spartanburg and Union counties together as the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, but the OMB now defines the Spartanburg, SC MSA as only Spartanburg County.
Greer is a city in Greenville and Spartanburg counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 35,308 as of the 2020 census, making it the 14th-most populous city in South Carolina. Greer is included in the Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area in Upstate South Carolina.
The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) is a private medical school on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, with branch campuses in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama, and Monroe, Louisiana. VCOM also recently added Bluefield University to its list of campuses. Founded in 2002, VCOM graduated its first class of 139 students in June 2007.
The SC Technical College System is a statewide network of 16 technical colleges in South Carolina.
The South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities (SCGSAH) is a prestigious boarding school for the arts located in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1999 by Virginia Uldrick, the high school program provides pre-professional training in creative writing, dance, drama, film, music and visual arts to sophomores, juniors and seniors, in a master-apprentice, arts-centered community. The Governor's School also offers arts-intensive summer programs for 7th-through-11th-grade students.
ECPI University, or East Coast Polytechnic Institute, is a private for-profit university based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It provides undergraduate- and graduate-level education in an accelerated format. ECPI University has six colleges with thirteen campus locations in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, and online. Campuses are located in Virginia Beach, Newport News, Manassas, Richmond, Roanoke, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Greenville, Columbia, Charleston, Lake Mary, and San Antonio. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
Education in South Carolina covers the history and current status of education at all levels, public and private, and related policies.
The Piedmont Atlantic megaregion is a neologism created by the Regional Plan Association for an area of the Southeastern United States that contains parts of the states of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The region includes the Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Memphis, Nashville, Research Triangle (Raleigh-Durham), Upstate South Carolina (Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson), and Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point metropolitan areas. The megaregion generally follows the Interstate 85/20 corridor. According to Georgia Tech, the Piedmont Atlantic represents over 12 percent of the total United States population and covers over 243,000 square miles (630,000 km2) of land.
William Lawrence Laval was an American minor league baseball player, baseball manager, and college baseball, football, and basketball coach. He held head coaching positions at the University of South Carolina, Furman University, Emory and Henry College, and Newberry College. He is the only South Carolina football coach to have produced seven consecutive winning seasons. In 2009, The State called him "the greatest collegiate coach" in the history of South Carolina.
A variety of sports are popular in the US state of South Carolina.
The U.S. state of South Carolina is located in the Southern United States. It is the 23rd largest state by population, with a population of 5,118,425 according to 2020 United States Census estimates.
Jamey Chadwell is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Liberty University, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Chadwell served as the head football coach at North Greenville University from 2009 to 2011, Delta State University in 2012, Charleston Southern University from 2013 and 2016, and Coastal Carolina University, first in an interim capacity in 2017 and then on a permanent basis from 2019 to 2022.
Marjory Heath Wentworth is an American poet. She was named by Governor Mark Sanford as the sixth South Carolina Poet Laureate in 2003.
William Douglas Workman III was an American businessman and politician who served as the mayor of Greenville, South Carolina from 1983 to 1995. Greenville is the seat of Greenville County, the state's most populous county, at the center of the Upstate South Carolina region.
Prior to the civil rights movement in South Carolina, African Americans in the state had very few political rights. South Carolina briefly had a majority-black government during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War, but with the 1876 inauguration of Governor Wade Hampton III, a Democrat who supported the disenfranchisement of blacks, African Americans in South Carolina struggled to exercise their rights. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation kept African Americans from voting, and it was virtually impossible for someone to challenge the Democratic Party, which ran unopposed in most state elections for decades. By 1940, the voter registration provisions written into the 1895 constitution effectively limited African-American voters to 3,000—only 0.8 percent of those of voting age in the state.