AURORA, COLO. ? The University of Colorado’s regents have attempted to restore good will with longtime boosters by delaying a set of mandatory donations required for 8,000 season football tickets.

The contributions will become mandatory in the fall of 2006 instead of this year, the Board of Regents decided. All season-ticket donations will be designated for student-athlete scholarships only, according to the new policy.

The measure came after months of complaints from longtime football fans who were notified in October they owed mandatory donations of between $50 and $300 per seat to the Colorado Athletics Fund in order to keep their season tickets next season.

The university has required donations for seats in parts of Folsom Field for 25 years. The policy previously didn’t apply to those who bought their tickets before 1979.

Longtime fans complained to CU leaders in recent months that it was unfair to start imposing a “seat tax” on supporters who had been attending games since at least the 1970s.

Others questioned where their contributions would have gone, after the CU Foundation revealed that some money from the athletics fund has been used to pay coaches’ salary disbursements and country club fees.