Last November, Rady School of Management Dean Robert S. Sullivan said his school’s new campus would be the “first totally privately funded building” at UCSD. He spoke prematurely.

Just last month, the UC Board of Regents amended the project’s budget, pumping more than $12.5 million of university money into construction. For the regents, the project should be a case study in poor planning.

Administrators blame the unexpectedly higher costs on the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and San Diego’s housing boom. Both factors, however, were clearly present last November, when the regents first approved the construction. Either they were deceived at the time about the true cost of the campus, or the university’s planners dropped the ball.

UCSD has many construction and building maintenance priorities, and Rady School is certainly not among them. With only 500 students envisioned at its peak ­­— that’s five years from now, at best — the school cannot justify an investment that is equal to the entire amount of state money that the University of California spends on outreach and academic preparation programs.

A report prepared for the regents last year warned that nearly 60 percent of the buildings in the university system are approaching the end of their useful life. Though UCSD is slightly better than the average, we too face a deferred maintenance crisis. Any extra $12 million should’ve been used to address these problems instead of funding a new vanity project.

While it’s too late to reverse the funding decision, the regents must demand that Rady School pay back the extra money with future private donations.