UW System Repeals Admissions Stop

The board had voted March 15 to stop accepting additional applicants while still admitting incoming freshmen who had already received acceptance letters.

The vote was in response to a Wisconsin State Assembly Joint Committee on Finance proposal requiring the system to make an additional $21.8 million in budget cuts.

The cuts came shortly after the legislature had already voted to cut $51 million from the system's budget.

UW-system Board of Regents President Jay Smith said that when the additional cuts were announced, the board decided that expanding enrollment on the 26 Wisconsin campuses was unrealistic.

"We determined that the universities were over-enrolling based on the amount of funding that might be available," he said.

Smith said the system already had about 124,000 students enrolled and only about 8,100 openings remained for the next academic year.

After presenting its position to state officials, the Board of Regents received assurances from Gov. Scott McCallum and the Democratic Senate majority that the university system will not endure the massive budget cuts.

The Wisconsin State Assembly is scheduled to begin amending the state budget next week.

The reworking of the state budget is expected to ensure that the university system has to withstand only the original $51 million in budget cuts but not the additional $21.8 million.

Smith said the assurances were enough for the board to reverse its earlier decision. "We can take a $51 million reduction and reduce some of the services provided without reducing enrollment," he said. "Based on the assurances we received, we decided to lift the suspension."

Smith also said that surprisingly, the board did not receive an overwhelming negative response from the public with its original decision to suspend admission to the system.

But he said board members did hear from some of the students vying for the 8,100 openings because they wanted to be able to enroll in classes for the fall semester.

Democratic Rep. Larry Balow, a member of the legislative Committee on Colleges and Universities, said the board's decision to suspend enrollment showed the board had gained too much power in recent years.

But Balow said the reversal was a step in the right direction, adding that he now knows that power is concentrated in the right hands.

"The board knows the state's education budget better than anyone else, so allowing them additional powers was the right move," he said. "The promise by the Senate to look closer at the budget allowed the board to lift the suspension.

"I think the board did the right thing."

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