As the budget for Iowa universities tightens, cutting programs may be the only option left, a regent said Thursday.

“[State funding] may not get worse before it gets better, but it’s going to be a long time improving,” said Regent Robert Downer, of Iowa City.

“We’re in a situation where if we don’t go through this sort of an exercise, we’re going to see the quality of these programs slip.”

At a private discussion at Wednesday’s Board of Regents meeting at the University of Northern Iowa, regents considered merging programs offered at more than one Iowa university.

John McCarroll, director of university relations, said discussion of programs being cut or merged is speculation at best.

“[The Board of Regents] didn’t make any decisions to order campuses to eliminate positions,” McCarroll said. “No votes were taken and no decisions were made.”

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said there is currently no talk of cutting any programs. The key to understanding cutting duplicate programs is being able to differentiate between “duplication” and “unnecessary duplication,” he said.

“There are times when it’s appropriate to have duplication,” Geoffroy said. “I do think that as the budgets get tighter and tighter, the regents are likely to want to examine for possible cost savings by eliminating programs whose duplication they believe is unnecessary.”

Barbara Boose, communications specialist for the Board of Regents, said programs such as English and history are most often duplicated because students are required to take those classes as part of a general curriculum.

“People should be aware there are duplications where the demand requires it,” she said.

Downer said duplicate programs have been cut in the past. He said he suspects that if duplicate programs were to be cut again, it would be more extensive.

“We’re trying to grapple with budget cuts best as we can,” he said. “I don’t see the situation turning around in the next couple of years … it’s just doggone tough.”

Geoffroy said if programs were to be consolidated, students would look out of state for higher education.

“Other universities don’t have any spare capacity to absorb other students,” he said.

Downer said students will leave programs if they are not offered at the university they prefer.

Michael Whiteford, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said it doesn’t make sense to have unnecessary duplication, but much duplication is necessary.

Any student who graduates from Iowa State should have good exposure to math, science, the arts and humanities and social sciences, none of which are unnecessary duplication, he said.

“The hard stuff is what comes after that — where do we draw the line?” Whiteford said.

“We are being asked by the Board of Regents to determine where that line is, and I think it’s because we can’t afford to do all things. I think we cannot avoid coming to grips with that.”