SAN MARCOS ---- State finance authorities have decided to pay the difference between the money Cal State San Marcos has on hand to build a new College of Business Administration building and the unexpectedly higher price tag, university officials said Monday.

The added sum of $751,000 in state money means that the university will not have to cut what it considered essentials from the estimated $27.9 million project.

The business building would be one of two public higher education buildings in San Marcos to be paid for out of some $651 million in economic stimulus funds proposed by then-Gov. Gray Davis after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Aside from the CSUSM project, which would bring the College of Business Administration its first permanent home, the stimulus package included more than $29 million toward a long-sought high-tech laboratory and classroom building at Palomar College.

Tonight, the Palomar administration is set to ask its board for the go-ahead to solicit bids for the high-tech project. The board meets at 7 p.m. in room D-10 on the main campus at 1140 W. Mission Road in San Marcos.

At CSUSM, campus architect Diane Malone said the state's decision, made by the Department of Finance and the state Public Works Board, came as a relief.

"The campus and the community can now focus on finding funds that make the building a more appropriate expression of business and the campus' relationship with the business community," Malone said Monday.

Cal State San Marcos now plans to grant formal approval to go ahead with the project to the winning bidder, C. E. Wylie Construction Co. of San Diego, before the end of May.

Wylie has bid $20.5 million, some $751,000 more than the $19.75 million allocated for construction. Construction management costs add some $3.3 million toward an estimated final price tag of $27.9 million, a figure that includes costs such as architect's fees.

The business building would add classroom space on the campus for some 3,150 students and offices for about 90 faculty members. At four stories and nearly 80,000 square feet, the project is slated for completion by January 2006.

On the drawing board since 1999, the building would face the Palm Court and form a triangle with Academic Hall and University Hall.

Business is the most popular major at the university, pursued by about one in five of the more than 7,500 students enrolled at CSUSM.

Across Highway 78 at Palomar, plans call for the new building to include nine life science labs, five chemistry labs, four earth sciences labs and two physics and engineering labs.

Palomar spokeswoman Cindy Sabato said bids could be awarded as early as September, with construction to take an estimated 24 months.