“The matching funds mentioned by President Clark are required to draw down approximately $10 million of the federal funds. That money remains available until it is spent by the university for the UTC or reprogrammed for another use,” Clyburn’s office stated, noting that only the U.S. Congress has the ability to reprogram the funds.
The rest of the funding package, approximately $2.8 million, was appropriated by the U.S. Congress in fiscal year 2004 and does not require matching funds.
“Now there are funds available to invest in things transportation related. Fortunately, Congressman Clyburn assisted in making that possible. We’re most grateful for that, but it does require some match that’s not federal funds,” Clark said.
“If somebody in the State of South Carolina wants to give us the $2.5 million match as a donation, fine. That would be fantastic, or the other option we’re working is for the state to assist this public land-grant institution and use a few state dollars to get some federal dollars,” the president said.
“If we’re so fortunate that they see fit to grant us that, it will allow us to significantly expand our programs here at the institution,” he said.
Elbert R. Malone, associate provost for sponsored programs and research at S.C. State, said, “We had to scale down from this $80 million-plus plan to do something doable with the pot of money that we have.”
