UW System enrollment will be cut drastically if legislators do not reconsider the latest cuts to the UW System budget, Jay Smith, president of the Board of Regents, announced Thursday.
The Joint Finance Committee proposed another round of cuts to the UW System, and Smith said there was no feasible way the system could absorb the cuts.
“The Joint Finance Committee has increased the total cuts to all state agencies by $23 million, raising the overall percentage cut to six percent. They didn’t specify how this cut would be taken, but it could mean an additional $8 [million to] $9 million cut on top of the $51 million already on the table for the UW System,” Smith said in a speech to the board.
Smith was blunt about the consequences of the plan. Although previously the UW System pledged not to decrease enrollment because of cuts, he said it was the only choice.
“If these additional cuts and caps come to pass, the University of Wisconsin System will have only one option–to reduce enrollments,” Smith said. “We will be forced to cut some 2,000 students for every additional $10 million cut from our GPR base.”
The Joint Finance Committee also proposed a tuition growth cap at 8 percent. Smith said this would also hurt enrollment by not allowing the UW System to raise the money it needs.
“Ironically, these tuition caps will not make the university more accessible–it’s just the opposite. They will cause us to deny access to qualified students,” Smith said.
Rolling back enrollment will have more effect than just hurting students attempting to attend UW, Smith said. He said there are vast economic implications of a decrease in enrollment.
“Let me be clear: when we are cut, our campuses bleed . . . and their local economies feel the pain,” he said.
Smith said the UW System has been incredibly successful in the past, but this success will end if the cuts go through as proposed.
“[The president’s and our chancellor’s] ability to maintain quality and access will end here if the Legislature cuts deeper than the governor’s proposal,” he said.
ASM and state Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, have fought for increased financial aid that follows the increases in tuition. Smith said this is the best option–not reducing the cap from McCallum’s proposal.
Smith directed UW System president Katharine Lyall to address the board next week on the status of the cuts and how the system will receive them. He also said he may have to immediately direct campuses to issue conditional letters of acceptance to applicants not yet accepted.
Lyall told the board any cuts would be hard to handle.
“The governor’s [proposed] cuts are not going to be easy to manage,” Lyall said.
Any additional cuts, Lyall said, would be “devastating.”
The role of the UW System in Wisconsin’s economy is a frequent the topic of conversation. Smith said cutting the system will hurt the economy; Regent Roger Axtell agreed.
“[The UW System] has been a catalyst for economic development,” Axtell said. “I find this extremely distressing.”
