South Carolina
Source: IPEDS Completions, 3-yr avg AY 2022–25 (NCES; 2024–25 provisional), bachelor’s degrees, CIP 14 + 11; China 33.2%: PRC Ministry of Education, 2022 bachelor’s graduates by discipline (NSF NCSES S&E Indicators Fig. HED-30: 32.8%, 2020); Population: Census NST-EST2025.
South Carolina at China’s rate would graduate 8,983 engineers a year. It graduates 2,608.
South Carolina produces 2,608 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 27,056 total, a mid-pack engineering producer, from 32 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 8,983. Output is growing (+7.8% over three years). Gap Score: 29% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 6,860 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 46% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
South Carolina is missing 6,375 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 5x the annual output of Clemson University.
Where South Carolina’s engineers are made.
32 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in South Carolina. The top 8 account for 89% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clemson University | 1,172 | 20.5% |
| 2 | University of South Carolina-Columbia | 651 | 10.2% |
| 3 | Citadel Military College of South Carolina | 158 | 25.3% |
| 4 | College of Charleston | 98 | 4.5% |
| 5 | University of South Carolina-Upstate | 78 | 7.7% |
| 6 | Coastal Carolina University | 77 | 4.0% |
| 7 | University of South Carolina Aiken | 50 | 8.3% |
| 8 | Bob Jones University | 40 | 8.0% |
Jobs vs. degrees
South Carolina's own labor-market projection, 2024–2034, for engineers, computer occupations and engineering technicians, against the degrees the state produces at every level.
Openings against output
Where the openings are
| Occupation | Openings / yr |
|---|---|
| Software Developers | 870 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 640 |
| Civil Engineers | 630 |
| Industrial Engineers | 630 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 530 |
| Computer Occupations, All Other | 430 |
Coverage: degrees ÷ openings
Openings are the state labor agency’s own 10-year projection: new jobs plus replacing workers who retire or leave the field (BLS method). Not every opening goes to a new graduate, so this is a coverage measure; it does not count vacant positions. Occupations: engineers (SOC 17-2), computer occupations (SOC 15-12) and engineering technicians (SOC 17-3, the associate-degree tier), the jobs CIP 14 + 11 degrees feed; degrees here include associate degrees to match. Source: South Carolina labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
South Carolina funded the plants but not the engineers to run them
Since 2022 the state has put record incentive packages, economic development bonds and readySC training behind a $2 billion Scout Motors EV plant, a $3.5 billion Redwood Materials battery campus, a $1.6 billion AESC cell factory and $9 billion of Google data centers. One is paused, one is $150 million over budget before a vehicle is built, and all of them assume engineers and technicians the state does not graduate at scale.
The drain.
South Carolina keeps the graduates it trains at technical colleges and loses the ones it trains as engineers. State PSEO data shows bachelor's degree holders steadily leaving, while associate degree graduates in manufacturing stay put at four out of five.
Sources: SC Commission on Higher Education and Ithaka S+R, Rural Graduate Retention and State Workforce Contributions in South Carolina (PSEO data, March 2026)
Who’s covering it.
Reporters already cover this, but no one has combined it into a single number the way the Index does.
The fix, in South Carolina.
Add a service requirement to SC WINS
The SC Workforce Industry Needs Scholarship already pays up to $5,000 a year and makes tuition free in high demand technical college programs across all 46 counties. Create a Digital ROTC track inside it: free engineering technology, mechatronics and IT credentials at Midlands, Trident, Florence-Darlington and Spartanburg Community College in exchange for a two year commitment to a South Carolina employer. The retention math already favors it, since about 82 percent of associate graduates in manufacturing stay in state.
Attach a service pledge to engineering aid
Only about half of South Carolina bachelor's graduates are still working in the state ten years out, and just 42 percent of those in professional, scientific and technical services. Clemson's privately funded Boyd Scholars program shows what money plus structure does for engineering retention. Fund a state version at Clemson, USC and SC State where the award is forgiven against years worked at a South Carolina employer or public agency.
Write pipeline clauses into incentive deals
The Coordinating Council for Economic Development already awards job development credits and the state issued $226 million in bonds for Redwood alone. Make the next package for a battery, data center or aerospace campus require the company to co-fund Digital ROTC cohorts through readySC at the nearest technical college, and count South Carolina graduates hired toward its job milestones. Then incentive spending on the scale of Scout's would also pay for trained workers.
What Digital ROTC would fund
Digital ROTC: federal student loans that cover two years of engineering, computer science, or cybersecurity school at a community college, whether those years end in an associate degree or transfer into a bachelor’s program. The loans are forgiven in full after 24 to 36 months of service in government technology roles. In South Carolina, 18% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.