If cuts keep on going the way they have been and NIU keeps handling it in the same manner, education during the summer could cease to exist.

College of Business Dean Richard Brown said if the present budget package is defeated and education is asked to take a bigger cut than $2.5 million, then “summer school session would be in jeopardy.”

For the students who depend on the summer session, this news is devastating. There are students who depend on the summer session to graduate in under five years.

Most students cannot afford to go to school another semester just to pick up one class that was not offered in the summer because money wasn’t there.

Not only will a student lose money by paying for another semester, but also time. The time spent in school taking one class could be used to look for a job. In a job market that has reached rock bottom, a grad needs as much time as possible to search for employment.

NIU is heading in the right direction of cuts when targeting research. Joseph Grush, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said cutting research would not benefit students later on, but the time to think about students is now. They are the ones will suffer immediately.

While NIU has taken precautionary measures to limit the financial devastation, and has identified areas that need to be cut, there still are places that cuts can be made.