CEDAR FALLS-The University of Northern Iowa, like many other schools across the nation, is dropping four intercollegiate sport programs because of budget considerations. UNI Director of Athletics Rick Hartzell announced this morning in a press conference that the men's and women's tennis programs, along with the men's and women's swimming and diving programs, will be dropped from the Panther program, effective immediately.  The elimination of these programs reduces UNI's intercollegiate offerings to 16 sports.     "This decision to drop the tennis and swimming programs was, of course, a very difficult one. It came as a result of a thorough review of our entire athletics program and the department's budget resources.  During the current fiscal year, state budget reductions have had a detrimental impact on the University's athletics program.     "In anticipation of additional state budget cuts for next year and the increasing costs associated with the athletics programs, the department had to take decisive action to cut its budget."     This reduction in sport programs affects 50 student athletes - 21 in women's swimming, 14 in men's swimming, eight in men's tennis and seven in women's tennis.  Of those 50 competitors, students on scholarship include 15 in the men's and women's tennis programs, 15 women swimmers and seven men swimmers for a total scholarship cost of $263,111.       The student-athletes affected will be able to transfer to other schools and will be eligible to compete immediately according to NCAA rules.  Hartzell said some student-athletes  may opt to stay at UNI and pursue their degree and for those receiving scholarship monies, those scholarships will be honored for one more year.     With the full compliment of 20 sports, a total of 318 male and 182 female students participated in intercollegiate athletics at UNI.  The dropping of these four sports will result in nearly $327,000 in scholarship, operation, and salary savings.     Hartzell said the dropping of these particular sports was most logical for several reasons, including the availability of facilities and the number of competing programs in the Missouri Valley Conference and in the state of Iowa.     "The lack of an adequate on-campus facility for tennis was problematic," Hartzell said.     "Tennis always is going to face the challenges that northern schools have in trying to compete against schools in warmer climates.  Our inability to create an unqualified permanent fund source for scholarships on the men's side was going to be an ongoing hindrance.     "Bradley University recently was forced to make a similar decision when it dropped its swimming programs," Hartzell added.  "That reduced the number of competing programs in the Missouri Valley Conference to just four on the men's side and five on the women's side.  There also has been a rather steep decline in the number of high school swimming programs, particularly in the state of Iowa.     "We looked at our sports within the context of trying to maintain a profile that is similar to the championship offerings of the Iowa High School Athletic Assoc. and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.  Our mission also was to protect sports that have longstanding traditions in core sports in the Missouri Valley, "Hartzell said.     "This is a difficult way to cap off what has arguably been one of the most successful years in the school's athletic history," Hartzell lamented.  "Football, volleyball, men's track and wrestling all have had programs finish in the top 15 nationally.   We were ranked as high as 25th in the Sears Directors Cup standings at the end of the winter sports season, the highest ranked program in the conference.  We again are challenging for the top spot in the Missouri Valley Conference All-Sport standings."     This is not the first time UNI has dropped sports.  Men's gymnastics was initiated in 1966-67 and was dropped following the 1980-81 season.  Women's gymnastics began in 1974-75 and also was dropped in the spring of 1981.  Women's field hockey was dropped in 1983 after beginning in the early '70s.      Statements from Rick Hartzell, Northern Iowa Director of Athletics, regarding discontinuation of four athletics programs.      Summary statement:      Effective immediately, the University of Northern Iowa will no longer offer the following intercollegiate sports: men's and women's tennis, and men's and women's swimming and diving.      A total of 50 students participated in these programs during the 2001-2002 school year.     The decision to drop programs was, of course, a very difficult one.  It came after a thorough review of our entire intercollegiate athletics program and budget resources. We are all aware of the impact that the state budget cuts have had on the university during the past year, and our athletic department has not been immune to the effects of this process.       In anticipation of additional state budget cuts for next year and the increasing costs associated with the athletics programs, I felt the department had to take decisive action to cut back its budget.     After much consideration, I came to the conclusion that we could not maintain the same scope of athletics offerings in the face of declining resources. To continue to do so would be fiscally irresponsible, and would ultimately have an adverse effect on all of our programs.       At a university where we put  "Students First," the quality of the experience is the most important component.  In my opinion, we had to make some extraordinary decisions to ensure that our teams could continue to operate in a manner consistent with other NCAA Division I programs, and afford us an opportunity to be competitive at all levels.      1. Why are you doing this?   We are doing this in response to the increasing financial pressure of maintaining a wide-ranging, comprehensive intercollegiate athletics program that featured 20 different sports.  Expenses have continued to escalate at a rate far in excess of revenue growth. These problems, along with current and anticipated future state budget cuts, made it clear that we had to scale back the number of sports we offered.     2. What is the rationale behind the dropping of each sport?   In each case, facilities are an issue. We don't have an adequate on-campus facility for tennis. Tennis was also always going to face the same challenges that northern schools have in trying to compete against schools in warmer climates. Our inability to create an unqualified, permanent fund source for scholarships on the men's side was going to be an ongoing hindrance.     Although the Wellness Recreation Center is an outstanding competition facility for swimming, getting practice time is difficult because the center is open to the campus.  It's important to note that swimming is a program that may be in trouble nationwide. Iowa State recently dropped its program.  Within our conference, Bradley University was recently forced to make a similar decision, reducing the number of competing programs in the Missouri Valley to just four on the men's side and five on the women's side.  There also has been a rather steep decline in the number of high school swimming programs, particularly in the state of Iowa.     We also tried to determine the required investment to bring these teams to the same level of competitiveness that other programs in our department currently enjoy.  To say the least, it was going to be an uphill battle, and any progress would have likely come at the expense of making critical investments in our remaining programs.     3. Why keep these sports and not others?   We try to maintain a profile that is similar to the championship offerings of the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.  Our mission also included protecting sports such as baseball, softball, basketball and track and field that have longstanding traditions in the Missouri Valley Conference.      Of course, we had to evaluate the programs we dropped from a financial perspective and ask some tough questions.  What kind of ongoing investment was required to make them  better?  How