Swimming pools and baseball games are right around the corner, but members of the ISU men’s swimming and baseball teams won’t be suiting up this summer.

The two varsity sports were cut Monday, giving another example of the penetrating effects of university budget cuts across the nation.

Add this recent loss to the overcrowded classrooms and potential budget cuts in colleges around campus, and you’ll start to get an idea of what the next few years will probably be like.

No, ISU administrators aren’t on an evil cutting spree to free up more money for cocktail parties and Cyclone T-shirts.

They are working very hard to decide where the money in their shrinking budgets will go.

They are making the tough decisions, being the “bad guys” in an effort to decide what’s best for everyone.

Of course, opinions about what is best for everyone are as varied as the buffet at Bishop’s. Athletes in the swimming and baseball programs are some of the most exemplary on campus.

They work as hard in the classroom as they do in the pool or the baseball field.

But they don’t charge admission for their tickets, and in a time of budget cuts, non-revenue sports weigh heavily on the Athletic Department’s shoulders.

Iowa’s budget is slowly starving.

The portions are getting smaller for everyone across the state – the money isn’t there. While it isn’t fun to talk about or think about, it is a growing reality in the lives of university students, faculty and administration.

So tighten your belts, Iowa State, it’s time to go on a diet.

editorialboard: Carrie Tett, Jocelyn Marcus, Katie Goldsmith, Andrea Hauser and Tim Paluch