Regents suspend admissions

The UW System Board of Regents has suspended undergraduate admissions at all 26 campuses, pending additional information on proposed cuts to the UW System budget.

The suspension on undergraduate admissions starts Saturday, March 9, until further notice. Applicants who already have been notified by campuses that they are admitted for fall 2002 are not affected by this decision.

Regent President Jay L. Smith says he hopes the suspension on admissions “is a temporary one and can be lifted in the near future.”

The board directed UW System President Katharine Lyall and UW chancellors to act “as soon as possible” to determine the full impact of the budget cuts on the campuses.

“We realize the impact this has on the lives of our applicants and their families, and we apologize for the inconvenience,” Smith says. “But we have no other choice.”

The UW System faces a $51 million cut in Gov. Scott McCallum’s budget adjustment bill. The Joint Finance Committee this week added about $20 million in cuts to the governor’s proposal, through reductions to the university’s base budget and a cap on tuition increases of 8 percent.

Smith says the additional cuts would put in jeopardy approximately $58 million in matching money pledged by private donors and businesses for programs that are part of the regents’ economic stimulus package.

The admissions process varies by campus, and some UW System institutions are farther along in that process than others. Nevertheless, the decision affects applicants on every campus.

Several regents says the decision to suspend undergraduate admissions is regrettable but necessary for the UW System and for students and their parents.

“The action that we are taking today is a sad one, but I support it,” says regent James Klauser.

“This is a serious situation, one that we cannot take lightly,” adds regent Roger Axtell. “I feel strongly that it would be irresponsible for us to continue admitting students right now.”

UW System President Katharine Lyall says that admissions decisions in the past have been deferred to future semesters because of budget uncertainty. “This is not totally unprecedented, but we have never done it this way,” she says.

Lyall says the decision was important so the UW System can take the time needed to study the impact of budget cuts and how they will affect each campus.

“We have a very important obligation to our current and admitted students to provide the courses they need, to make it possible for them to graduate in a timely fashion, to ensure they can access the library services they need and participate in the laboratory experiments they need for their degrees,” she says.

Smith says the proposal’s impact must be more fully understood before campuses can resume sending out admissions letters.

“We must operate like a business,” he says. “We can’t enroll students if we don’t have the GPR (state tax money) to pay for them. As regents, it is our ultimate responsibility to maintain the integrity and quality of the UW System.”