Academic hood lists published by the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) in 1948 and 1972 described “South Carolina Normal College” as having a hood lined garnet with a navy blue chevron. It is not known whether this was a hood lining pattern that had been officially assigned by the IBAC or merely a record of the college’s school colors applied to a hypothetical hood lining arrangement, but either way it was a duplication of the hood lining the IBAC had already assigned to Presbyterian College (also in South Carolina) before 1927.

However, because Presbyterian’s shade of blue is actually “Presbyterian blue” (a medium shade of “true” blue), South Carolina State University’s hood can be easily distinguished from Presbyterian College’s hood.

A list compiled by Kevin Sheard in Academic Heraldry in America (1962) described South Carolina State University’s hood lining as maroon with a blue chevron, which was not an accurate description of the university’s colors.