The University revealed previously unpublished budget information Friday, but student leaders active in the campaign for an open budget said a line-by-line budget disclosure is still needed.

University President Bryce Jordan described the information about the 1988-89 operating budget as open and precise. The documents break down expenses by college, campus, academic department and major administrative unit.

Undergraduate Student Government Senate President Kendall Houk said the budget is still closed and he pressed for line-item budget information which would make the University accountable to the community.

The document "slices" the budget two separate ways, Jordan said at a news conference. It provides budget information by function at the college and major administrative level. This section of the budget is divided into nine functional areas, including instruction, research, physical plant and student services, he said.

Instruction accounts for the largest expenditure in Penn State's $1 billion budget, with 25.3 percent devoted to faculty salaries and other instructional costs.

Budget information also is provided on a departmental level for each college and major administrative unit. This section also contains budget information for all academic and non-academic units at University Park, and for the Commonwealth campuses.

In both sections, the information is broken down further into total salaries, wages for part-time employees, fringe benefits such as health insurance, retirement and Social Security, and departmental allotments used for supplies, services and travel, Jordan said.

For example, the College of Engineering receives $26.4 million from the general funds budget, which is derived from tuition, state appropriation and other sources. Total salaries for the college amount to $19.3 million of the allocation, wages for part-time employees are more than $40,000, fringe benefits cost $5.6 million and departmental costs account for the remaining $1.5 million.

"The open budget provides a very precise public accounting for how Penn State spends the money it receives," Jordan said.

The document is available in Pattee in the Penn State Room, the reserve reading room and the reference room. Copies of the budget also have been sent to the libraries of the Commonwealth campuses, he said.

The administration released the information partially in response to student leaders' call for an open budget, Jordan said. The budget information was released during spring break because the document recently was completed and University wanted to release the information as soon as possible, he added.

The administration also was acting in compliance with the University Board of Trustees' vote on Nov. 11 to release certain budget information. However, the document does not provide the line-item budget information requested by USG, such as individual salaries of top administrators.

"Individual salaries in an institution such as this are private matters," Jordan said, defending the University's decision to withhold salary information. The University is not obligated to release salary information because it is not a state-owned institution, he said.

The University's philosophy on the budget is comparable to that of other universities with similar ties to the state, such as the University of Pittsburgh and Temple University, which do not reveal their budgets in a line-item manner, he said.

The budget document is separated into four tabbed sections. The first contains the temporary operating budget approved last July 16 before state funds were appropriated, Jordan said. The second section contains the amended operating budget reflecting actual state appropriations, which was adopted on Nov. 11 by the trustees, he added.

The budget's third section reveals the budget expenditures of the University by function and department. The last section is a bibliography of University budget information currently available to the public in the library.

USG President Seth Williams said a more open budget would allow state legislators in Harrisburg determine if the University's appropriation requests are legitimate.

The release of the budget will not affect Penn State's efforts to receive more state funding, Jordan said. The figures will reveal that the University is actually underfunded, he added.

Earlier in the week, Jordan went to Harrisburg to lobby for a 13.3 percent increase state funding for the University. Jordan campaigned for a $236.8 million appropriation for the 1989-90 school year. The University currently receives $209 million in state funds.

Houk criticized the budget document, saying much of the information released was already available to the public. He accused the University of running a misinformation campaign to "fool" the public into believing Penn State has an open budget.

Houk and Williams lobbied in Harrisburg early last week to amend a Pennsylvania "Right to Know" law which, if changed, would force the University to release more budget information.

The University's decision to release the information during spring break is a "slap in the face to students," said Williams. USG will continue to work for a line-by-line account of the budget, he added.

Relations between USG and the administration could be strained because the administration unveiled the document without informing USG leaders, said Houk.