The Escort Services' Safe Ride Program will have to run on funds that it was saving for next year's necessities.

As of yesterday, Tim Walker, a political science senior and the service's director, said, "We are bankrupt, we're absolutely out of money."

But after a joint decision with Walker, Vice President of Programs and Services Andrea Major, Associated Students President Ben Driggs, ASUA Advisor Jim Drnek and ASUA Accountant Gail Tanner, the service will continue through the end of finals.

The Escort Service will use a couple thousand dollars out of a savings account it had set aside to buy a new van, new radios and new uniforms for next year, Walker said.

He said it was a tough decision because he did not want to shut down the night-time shuttle service, but he also did not want to dip into the approximately $27,000 set aside to buy things he deems imperative.

"We are committed to the Escort Service, we will always find the resources to run it," Driggs said.

Walker said the problem with funds occurred when he estimated the budget for the rest of the year in November. At that time he did not figure in all the complications with the van and the rising cost of gasoline.

He said if the Escort Service's Safe Ride Program would have closed down, it would have been a definite problem for the 80 to 90 people who use it each night.

But he said people with disabilities or injuries who use the day-time golf cart service would not have been effected by a shutdown because the service is required by law.

The Escort Service has faced many problems this year, Walker said.

The van used for the Safe Ride Program had to undergo $1,000 worth of repairs after it was hit by another vehicle, and a car had to be rented from the UA motorpool with $900 the Undergraduate Senate granted the program a month ago.

The rented car is the only vehicle the night-time service can use now, Walker said, because the van needs additional repairs.

The service must also cover gas and payroll expenses.

People are paid $4.25 an hour to work for the daily service, while those with the Safe Ride Program are volunteers.

Driggs said this is the first year ASUA has granted the Escort Service $11,000 to operate in addition to the $25,000 allocated to it in ASUA's budget.

Walker said he has a much more personal stake in the program than most because he had a girlfriend who was raped and murdered at a college campus in the midwest 61/2 ago.

Ever since that incident, Walker vowed that he would get in the position at his school to prevent that from happening to a student.

"If I could, I'd give people piggy-back rides," Walker said.

The Safe Ride Program is a service set up so students do not have to walk on campus at night.

Students can call 621-SAFE from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday for a ride. He said the service does not run Friday and Saturday nights because it is almost impossible to find college students who will volunteer.