As the University Programming Board faces a slew of budgetary concerns as a result of accrued debt from previous years, the pressure is on for Thursday’s concert featuring emo bands Dashboard Confessional and Brand New to be a success.

As of last Friday, Dec. 1, a total of 3,206 tickets were sold for the show. Of those sold, 1,284 were purchased by students and 1,922 more were sold to the general public.

The show will take place this Thursday, Dec. 7, in the Events Center (no purses or bags will be allowed into the venue).

“I think that ticket sales are going really well. I’m happy to see over 3,000 already,” said the Student Association’s vice president for university programming, Sandi Dube.

The organization is hoping for about 4,000 tickets — out of a possible 7,000 — to be sold all in all, she added. Brand New performed at a free show for Spring Fling in 2004 with an audience of about 2,000 people; Dashboard Confessional headlined in Ithaca that October.

Two concerts in the past three years have produced a sold-out crowd: Green Day and last year’s show of comedians Steven Lynch and Lewis Black.

After a laundry list of poorly attended concerts, like last year’s Ludacris and O.A.R. performances (which both sold less than half of the 7,000 tickets), the UPB’s concert budget was left as $35,311.77.

This is a drastic change from University Programming Board budgets of past years. In 2004, the UPB was allotted $82,005.00, and there was $84,885.00 to work with for different acts in 2005.

The monetary funds for concerts have significantly decreased as a result of the debt the UPB was forced to pay after overstepping these budgets.

“As far as next year, I’m just trying to take us out of the hole. I’d like to start with the budget we’re supposed to start with, as opposed to starting under what we’re supposed to start with. That’s what my goal for this year is,” Dube said.

This year, perhaps because of her significantly minimized budget, Dube placed seven different bids before confirming a concert.

“I think we have a budget to spend it, but we don’t have it to go over,” Dube said. “Our goal should be to stay within our budget and still bring good shows.”

Students and SA members alike are left to deal with consequences of budget spending for this year, as some members of the student body wonder just how the funds got so out of control.

“I’m wondering where all the money went. We had Incubus and Green Day at one point, and now we have Brand New and Dashboard Confessional,” said George Alisandratos, a senior economics major. “I don’t see anything else improving, so where’d the money go?”

The total cost for the Brand New/Dashboard Confessional concert has not yet been released.