COLUMBIA, S.C. — A recent audit by the state's Inspector General has revealed that $152 million in lottery profits, intended for college scholarships, has accumulated over the past six years.
"As a legislator and a steward of the people's tax dollar and lottery dollar for that matter, I'm upset," said Rep. Tim McGinnis (R-Myrtle Beach).
"I can't say what the General Assembly would have done with $152 million, but I can say it was a missed opportunity," said Inspector General Brian Lamkin.
Lawmakers said that money could have been put toward public schools, student loan forgiveness programs, or even expanding scholarship eligibility. Instead, it sat in the bank.
"There's a lot of there's a lot of good that money could do," McGinnis told News19.
However, Executive Director of the Commission on Higher Education Rusty Monhollon points to a faulty algorithm as the cause. Monhollon explains that a flawed model projecting scholarship needs failed to account for decreased demand starting in 2018-2019.
"Somewhere around 2018 and 19, there started to be a decreased demand for our scholarships. And we didn't adjust the formula to start taking that into account," said Monhollon. "The money was surplus. Every student that was entitled to a scholarship had earned a scholarship and received their scholarship."
Monhollon assures that the unused funds are being returned to the state, and the commission has revised its lottery request formula to prevent a recurrence.
"When I discovered it was told about it, we looked at it. We reduced the amount of funding we requested for that upcoming fiscal year," said Monhollon.
Questions linger regarding the delayed discovery of the issue and who was notified. McGinnis notes that the committee plans additional hearings in the coming year to address concerns.
"We'll come up with a list of recommendations we can all agree on. Not sure exactly what they're going to be right now," said McGinnis. "But I can guarantee you some type of better oversight of that lottery money. So we don't end up having millions and millions of dollars that could be used towards improving education in South Carolina."
One option lawmakers proposed was relocating lottery funds from the Commission on Higher Education to another agency.
The report also highlights that the commission violated state law by failing to audit all colleges and universities receiving lottery funds over three years.
Monhollon attributes this lapse to a lack of staffing.
"We will look at where we need to do better, make the corrections, and be a better agency moving forward," said Monhollon.