Haley Signs Loan Forgiveness for SC State Into Law

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina State University is officially free of $12 million in state loans, but it must repay a separate, $6 million loan over the next 16 years.

Gov. Nikki Haley signed the terms into law Tuesday without fanfare.

The law forgives $8 million next year, then $2 million each in the following two years, provided SC State’s finances keep improving. The university must make yearly payments of $355,000 on the other loan. State officials approved both loans in 2014.

Lawmakers think erasing the debt will help the state’s only public historically black university keep its accreditation.

SC State’s accrediting agency will decide the college’s fate later this month. Following years of probation, its accreditation will either be restored or pulled. That would force the 120-year-old college in Orangeburg to close.