Budget Causes Wis. Enrollment Caps

A legislative committee in the Wisconsin State Assembly passed a proposal on Friday -- just prior to the board's decision -- requiring the system to make more than $20 million in additional budget cuts.

The assembly already had voted to slash the system's budget by approximately $50 million.

System officials said the state's mounting deficit conflicts with the board's specific goal to expand the universities.

"You can't serve more students with less money," said Gerard Randall Jr., vice president of the Board of Regents. "And we are still committed to serving more students. That commitment didn't go away with each successive budget."

According to the decision, only the incoming freshmen who had been notified of their acceptance prior to last Friday will be allowed to enroll for the fall.

Randall said he hopes the suspension will be short-lived, but added that it provides the necessary time to determine the plausibility of admitting additional students when there is little funding.

"It gives constituencies a better idea of the importance of the university," he said. "The attention is there, and we hope the appreciation is there too."

The decision to freeze admissions comes on the heels of application deadlines at four of the system's largest schools: UW-Madison, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Green Bay and UW-La Crosse.

Randall said the suspension might leave UW-Madison close to 2,000 short of their target class of 5,740 for next year.

Wisconsin officials have said they think the board has overstepped its boundaries. Some Republicans in the assembly have proposed eliminating the system's $4 million advertising budget and cutting the $17 million travel budget as a retaliatory measure for the board's actions.

Wisconsin Rep. Larry Balow, D-Eau Claire, a member of the assembly's Committee on Colleges and Universities, said the board's unexpected action shows it has gained too much power in recent years.

But Balow also said the board's decision reflects a desperate action by a group uncertain about the availability of state funding.

"They went ahead and froze enrollment until the numbers come out of conference," Barlow said. "They made a decision with the worst scenario."

The Wisconsin legislature will convene later this year to agree on a budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Balow said he hopes the long-term consequences of the board's decision will not tarnish the state's reputation and drive students elsewhere.

"Number one, this is going to make them mad," he said. "Number two, it's damaging to education in Wisconsin."

Balow said he remains confident of the state's ability to rectify the situation. "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they did put money back into the budget so that the best of the best don't leave to states where there is open admission," he said.

But Randall maintains that unusual circumstances warrant an unusual decision.

"This was not a decision that was made lightly," he said.

"I don't think there's any desire for any board of regents to relive what we're living out here."

The State and National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.