University of South Carolina Beaufort

Public · Moderately Selective · SC

Photo: Hamish uscb (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationSC · South

SettingRural

Undergrads2,052

Student:faculty15:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate23.4%

6-yr grad rate34%

Drop-out rate38.7%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$11k

Out-of-state tuition$22k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity41.5%

Gender diversity67.1%

International1.9%

Identity—

Overview

The University of South Carolina Beaufort is a public university in South Carolina's Lowcountry, with its main campus in Bluffton near Hilton Head Island — a younger, growing member of the University of South Carolina system built around the region's coastal and resort economy.

Academics

Programs in hospitality management, nursing, biology, and computational science are shaped directly by the surrounding coastal environment and tourism economy, with the salt-marsh and barrier-island ecosystem nearby serving as a living laboratory for the sciences and hospitality programs drawing on the region's resort industry for internships and career connections.

Campus & student life

The campus sits amid South Carolina's Lowcountry marsh landscape, close to Hilton Head's resort economy, and the student body has grown steadily as the region itself has grown; the feel is more regional and commuter-influenced than a traditional self-contained college town.

Getting in

Admission is accessible relative to the flagship Columbia campus, and the university has leaned into its coastal-economy programs — hospitality and marine-adjacent sciences in particular — as a draw for students interested in those specific fields.

Worth knowing

The tie to Hilton Head's resort and hospitality economy gives hospitality-management students an unusually direct regional internship and job pipeline that a landlocked school couldn't offer.

uscb.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate72.5%

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot used

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying