AMES, Iowa (AP) – A consultant says Iowa’s three public universities could save tens of millions of dollars in the coming years and eliminate up to 250 jobs by restructuring their administration. Recommendations released Thursday by Deloitte Consulting LLP call for changing or eliminating many individual departments’ human resources, information technology and finance positions. Instead, many of their functions would be handled at a college or university-wide level by more centralized teams.

Deloitte says the jobs would be cut over two years through attrition and perhaps an early retirement initiative. It cautioned the figures were broad estimates. The Iowa Board of Regents is meeting in Ames to discuss the proposals. Regents plan to gather feedback next week at town hall meetings on the university campuses before potentially taking action on the plans next month.