For months, four groups on campus have been carefully preparing options for cutting costs in response to years of budget cuts, and are discussing the possibility of future cuts.

One by one, their reports are coming in, although no formal recommendations have yet been made to either ISU President Gregory Geoffroy or the Board of Regents.

The report of the task force examining small programs, interdisciplinary courses and programs and low-enrollment courses will likely be submitted to Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Ben Allen early next week, said Vice Provost Howard Shapiro, the task force chairman.

The task force includes faculty, administrators and a graduate student.

Shapiro said because the areas the task force examined are so small, it will be difficult to find ways to save large amounts of money.

“Our task force has not found some big gold mine, but the truth is, when you talk about small programs, you talk about small money,” Shapiro said. “We have big problems, and small programs are not going to be the answer to our big problems.”

One of the things the task force is looking at is the feasibility of small classes.

“The budget forces away any kind of small classes because obviously people can’t afford to offer them,” Shapiro said.

The task force is also examining interdisciplinary courses, which provide a challenge because they are often not tied to a department and don’t receive department resources.

“There’s issues of size [with interdisciplinary courses], but there’s also issues of quality and if we can afford to support them,” Shapiro said.

The task force is also looking at unique challenges of graduate interdisciplinary programs.

“Most of our interdisciplinary programs are graduate, and in that case, there’s issues,” Shapiro said.

He said offering interdisciplinary programs allows the university to offer a competitive education that is important to students in the workplace, and research opportunities.

Shapiro said the task force is not targeting any specific program.

“We didn’t feel qualified as a task force to say, ‘This shouldn’t be offered,'” he said.

After Allen reviews it, the report will go to Geoffroy, who will inform the budget planning committee and hopefully provide a structure for the entire university community, Shapiro said.

“Everybody’s looking at programs now and budget is a big issue,” Shapiro said. “We hope this will be very timely … they are complex issues.”

It was unlikely any changes would come from the recommendation by next year, he said.

He said time would be needed to allow students in programs that would be cut to finish their studies and to move tenured faculty members to different departments or programs.

“It’s very difficult to talk about these things because you have a whole range of options,” Allen said.