ORANGEBURG, SC. - According to Legislatures, S.C. State University would not hold classes or athletics events for the next two years under a plan approved by an S.C. House budget panel Tuesday.

The plan is to give the financially troubled school a "clean slate," calls for closing of S.C. State in July and firing its trustees, administrators, faculty and staff.

 The school would reopen under new leadership in Fall of 2017. The 3,000 students at the state's only historically black public college could get state scholarships to attend other S.C. public colleges or any historically black university.

The Orangeburg school has a $10 million deficit owed to food and maintenance vendors. Its enrollment also has dropped by more than a third since 2007 and just 14 percent of its students graduate within four years.

The proposal approved Tuesday is along shot to pass the Legislature.

Suspending operations at S.C. State would require the proposal pass the full House and the state Senate, where the college has powerful advocates, including Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman.

"We are looking at a bankrupt institution," said state Rep. Jim Merrill, the Berkeley Republican who heads the panel that recommended suspending operations at S.C. State. "No one takes any pleasure in recommending this."

The Florence Republican is the architect of an ongoing recovery plan for financially troubled S.C. State. The plan included forming a panel of current and former S.C. College presidents to advise the school. That panel recommended a $12 million bailout of the school, approved late last year. S.C. State also received a $6 million loan from state budget leaders last year.

The House panel's proposal does not address how the state would cover the costs of closing S.C. State temporarily, including paying off an estimated $100 million in bonded debt that the school owes.

There is a question about if some S.C. State students might be left without a new school if the Orangeburg school suspended its operations. Even with state scholarships, some students might not qualify academically for admission to other schools.

Even if the proposal to suspend operations fails in the Legislature, S.C. State is being damaged by it, school president Thomas Elzey said Tuesday.

"It's damaging our ability to attract students and damaging our ability to raise money," Elzey said according to 'The State' news. "It's creating a problem for the university in the message that it sends."

S.C. State's accreditation is on probation because of its financial, accounting and governance issues. If the operations were to be suspended, S.C. State would lose its accreditation by SACS. It would also take two years for S.C. State to restore accreditation after its reopening. It would leave students hard to receive financial aid, due to students cannot receive it at unaccredited schools.

Also if the school is focus to close, it would close for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years. Students would be only be able to scholarships to attend other state public colleges or other historically black schools if they keep a 2.5 gpa.

The state would also fire school administrators, trustees, faculty and state under the proposal. Some employees at the Orangburg school could reapply for their jobs when the school reopened, said state Rep. Phillip Lowe. The school employs about 1,000.

The panel of current and former state college presidents currently advising that S.C. State would develop a plan to reopen the school by Jan. 1, 2017, and state the process of hiring new leadership and faculty.

Budget panel member states S.C. State president Elzey has not done enough to turn around the school's financial fortunes since arriving in mid-2013 from The Citadel. He arrived in Orangeburg as lawmakers were replacing almost the entire S.C. State Board of Trustees

The school tweeted from its official Twitter account the phone numbers of the S.C. House and governor's office, asking supporters to help fight the budget proposal.

"The university is encouraging all students, alumni, supports and parents to remain calm," the school tweeted. "The proviso is simply a recommendation."

The D.J's Music Site HBCU Campaign mission is to campaign to 'Keep HBCUs Alive.' We would love to help in any way we can to save S.C. State. Make sure you help support to #KeepSCStateAlive and save it Historically. If you know any ways we can save S.C. State to avoid operations from getting suspended, please don't hesitate to e-mail us at support@hbcucampaign.org.

S.C. State students and supporters tweets '#KillTheBillSCSTATE' in support of an social media protest in saving S.C. State.