Forget new programs. Just stop the bleeding.

That was the message the Kansas Board of Regents sent Thursday to leaders of state universities, telling them money from increased tuition may be used to cover shortfalls left by cuts in state funding.

But the move raised the ire of Kansas University’s student body president, Jonathan Ng, because students were told their higher tuition bills would lead to “enhancements” in their education.

“I think it’s a bad precedent by the board of regents,” Ng said. “If we pay more, we should expect to get more.”

Last year, Kansas’ six state universities submitted five-year plans for how they could increase tuition to improve programs. The plan at KU increased tuition by 25 percent this year, and called for increases from last school year’s $77.50 per credit hour to $160.25 per credit hour by 2006-2007.

Regents often said the tuition should provide “enhancements” at universities. But they changed course Thursday, acknowledging massive state budget cuts in the past year may have made that goal impractical.

“I think it’s silly to say this has to be used for enhancements, to add things on one hand when you’re cutting things on the other hand because of the budget,” said Regent Donna Shank of Liberal.

Regent Dick Bond of Overland Park said university leaders should be left to decide where the tuition funds would be directed.

“I do think it can be described as micromanaging by the board,” he said. “If we felt we were living in a stable funding environment, we might not adjust these kinds of guidelines.”

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Regents are scheduled to hear tuition proposals in May, with a decision coming at their June meeting.

But Provost David Shulenburger said the regents’ decision to back off their enhancement program wouldn’t change KU’s tuition plan. He said the added programs in the five-year plan would continue.

“We’re going to stick to our plan,” he said. “We certainly don’t want the Legislature to see tuition as a substitute for state-based funding, and that’s what happens if you say straight out, ‘We’re replacing state dollars with tuition dollars.’

“We’ve closed programs and made all sorts of adjustments. We’re not going to put money back in those areas. I hope the Legislature will come back and restore those cuts at some point.”

The tuition increases will generate about $8.6 million annually for KU’s Lawrence campus. This year, the money was spent on such items as graduate teaching assistant salaries, technology improvements and operating costs for schools and departments.

Plans for next year’s tuition money include increases in technology, faculty salaries, new faculty positions and graduate teaching assistant salaries.

Ng said he trusted KU officials to stick to their plan and not use tuition money to “plug the holes” left by state cuts.

“I’d hope our good-faith agreement with our administration would convince them not to go back on the basic principle of using tuition dollars to fund enhancements,” he said.