The University of South Carolina Salkehatchie is a public university with its main campus in Allendale and a branch campus in Walterboro. It is one of the 4 regional USC campuses accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as part of the flagship campus (University of South Carolina Columbia). Over 800 students attend the University at one of its two sites. The citizens of Allendale, Bamberg, and Hampton counties led an effort in 1964 to establish a center of higher education for their region of South Carolina. The proposal was warmly received by the General Assembly, and the Western Carolina Higher Education Commission was created to investigate the possibility of a college for the region. House Speaker Solomon Blatt pleaded with the University of South Carolina to build two year colleges across the state so as to prevent any possible expansion by Clemson. As a result, USC planned a campus for the area, and it was decided that the campus be placed in Allendale because it was the hometown of Lieutenant Governor Robert Evander McNair.