The UW System Board of Regents made an executive committee decision to reverse the suspension on undergraduate admissions Friday. Regents voted to resume enrollment “up to, but not beyond” regular instructional capacity, citing confidence in state lawmakers to secure additional state funding for the universities.

The regents have received promise from Gov. Scott McCallum and the Democrat state Senate majority, which will debate and amend the state budget next week, assuring the university system will not be as hard hit by budget cuts as expected.

“The suspension of any further undergraduate admissions was the right thing to do given the uncertainty of the state budget process,” Board President Jay Smith said. “But with the funding assurances we have received this week, we can get back to the business of admitting and educating students and maintaining the quality of the UW System.”

The Regents initial vote to freeze admissions came two weeks ago, following the Joint Finance Committee’s decision to strip $21.8 million more from the UW System?s biennial budget. Assembly Republicans stacked on another $44.6 million, bringing total cuts to $108 million and prompting the Regents’ move.

UW System President Katharine Lyall said the UW System could enroll 5,500 more undergraduates if the final budget cut is reduced back to the $51 million McCallum initially proposed.

“I urge us to maintain our focus on serving all students we admit well and recalibrate enrollment targets for fall 2003 and beyond, once our final budget is determined,” Lyall said at Friday’s executive session.

Smith said he hopes funding beyond the governor’s proposal could be found for the UW budget so that even more students could be admitted.

“Every additional student we can enroll is a plus for the state’s economic future,” Smith said. “To really help the state out of this economic slump, we should be enrolling more, not fewer, students.”