If you operate a campus in South Carolina, and your institution has raised its tuition more than the national average, then that state's Budget & Control Board has put your capital projects on hold and forbidden new ones. Is this essentially toothless and symbolic, or does it really matter?

The University of South Carolina’s Columbia campus, where tuition was increased 6.9 percent this year, is not affected by the moratorium. Nor is S.C. State University, which increased its tuition 5.2 percent.

But many of the state’s other schools, including Clemson University, The Citadel, the College of Charleston, all of the regional campuses in USC’s system and several technical schools, will be under the moratorium. Figures included in the packet of information board members used to make their decision included an average tuition increase of 9 percent at the Medical University of South Carolina, but that school has many different tuition rates for its wide range of programs and it was not clear whether the university would be subject to the moratorium.

Budget board members carved out several exceptions to the moratorium. Projects that have already been fully approved can continue. Deferred maintenance projects can go forward. Others that deal with health and safety — projects that, say, install fire alarms or fire sprinkler systems — are also exempted from the moratorium. And projects that are paid for with private money are not covered by the moratorium.