4. Have guts.

Before the ink was dry on Clemson’s 10-year goals and Road Map, Clemson faced the first in what would be a decade-long series of financial setbacks from a midyear state budget cut. Over the next decade, Clemson would see its state appropriation decline from a high of $164.9 million in 2000 (which represented 37 percent of total funding) to $113.5 million – less than 15 percent of funding – as of December 2009.

On June 20, 2001, the Board of Trustees approved an unprecedented tuition increase of $750 per semester – a 42 percent tuition increase for in-state students – to offset state cuts and continue the quest for quality. The action by trustees signaled that the goals were nonnegotiable and generated national headlines. More than one newly recruited faculty member and administrator cited the action as part of the reason they came to Clemson. In the words of one, “I remember thinking, ‘These guys are serious.’” Incidentally, Clemson set an application record the following year.

“I am indeed taken by the quality of the university and its leaders and students. Clemson must be the best educational bargain in the U.S.” – Arden L. Bement, Director, National Science Foundation