STATE COLLEGE — Changes to football season ticket guidelines at Penn State have been implemented to boost attendance two years after the school instituted new donation levels that left some fans unhappy.

The result of the “Seat Transfer and Equity Plan” Average is this: Attendance is down slightly since 2010, though donations to the booster organization — called the Nittany Lion Club — are up slightly.

To counter — with the homecoming game vs. Northwestern on tap for Saturday — Penn State this week lowered minimum donation levels for about 11,500 seats at 106,572-seat Beaver Stadium. Other donation levels were frozen, too, and the school promised to hold the line on the actual price of tickets of $55 per game.

“This is not fixing something that didn’t work. It’s about maximizing what we began two years ago,” associate athletic director Greg Myford said. He called the program a success because of the promise of increased revenue at a time of increasing budget pressures, while also “leveling the playing field for how tickets are allocated.”

The athletic department is self-supporting and doesn’t draw on tuition dollars to pay for the school’s 31 varsity teams. Athletic officials spoke of looming budget pressures three years ago as they put the finishing touches on the changes — long before the NCAA slammed Penn State in July with strict sanctions, including a $60 million fine, for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.