A student-proposed program that would assign undergraduates to act as informal advisers for freshmen moved closer to gaining University approval last week, as the dean of students provisionally granted it official status and the Freshmen Dean's Office agreed to fund two sets of its mailings.

Archie C. Epps III, dean of students, gave his approval for the program's leaders to continue their organizing efforts.

He waived requirements that the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life (CHUL) first give official status to the group before it could participate in University mailings.

Arthur J. Kyriazis '80, organizer of the program, said yesterday that official approval from CHUL should be pro forma because the program will be well underway by the time of CHUL's first meeting.

The proposed program, dubbed "Students Helping Students" (SHS), would assign undergraduate advisers to groups of five or six freshmen, and could involve as much as 80 per cent of next year's freshman class, Kyriazis said.

Henry C. Moses, dean of freshmen, said yesterday that "the purposes of the organization have been refined quite a lot" in the last three weeks. Moses had earlier expressed some apprehension about whether SHS would conflict with existing advising programs.

Moses said his office will fund two sets of SHS mailings to freshmen and the undergraduate advisers, and "will set up evaluations of the program" next year.