USC Beaufort has one of the oldest traditions of higher education in the nation, dating to the 1795 charter of the original Beaufort College. An official act of the South Carolina legislature authorized the College to confer degrees in the liberal arts or sciences as are usually conferred in other colleges in Europe and America. The War closed the College in 1861.
In 1959 another act of the South Carolina legislature created the Beaufort campus of the University of South Carolina on the original Beaufort College site on the banks of the Beaufort River to offer USC courses. In 1994 International Paper gave eighty acres of land to build an additional full-service campus of USC Beaufort in the region's highest growth area. County government agreed to finance the construction of the campus if the University were designated as a four-year university. Once state approvals for four-year status were completed, construction of the South Campus began.
In June 2002, USCB was granted four-year status by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, and in 2004 USCB was accredited as a Level II baccalaureate degree granting university. Classes at the South Campus began in August 2004. On-campus student apartments at the South Campus opened in the fall of 2005. The state's newest four-year university, USC Beaufort offers baccalaureate degrees, access to USC's Extended Graduate Campus classes and degrees and numerous continuing education programs at its two full-service campuses.
This 200-year commitment to liberal arts education has remained constant while evolving to meet the changing needs of higher education.
