FROM: Interim President Joseph S. Wood
September 20, 2007
Dear Colleagues:
Printed below are suggestions received from mid-September through October 1 on how to move USM forward
Sincerely,
Joe Wood
Interim President
I am concerned that in the focus on administrative savings, that you are overlooking what are current valuable assets. The Muskie School is one of the best-known parts of USM (USM community survey) and according to the marketing consultants, a part of USM deserving of a sub-brand. It is a consolidated center of social service research and one of the only parts of USM with a national reputation and portfolio. The same is true of our student body and young alumni body, who are just beginning to play a real role in public policy, especially in Maine. The School is a major asset of the University -- never more so then at the moment -- as we are about to move into a new building and reap the benefits of the University's investment over the last year in a quality dean and school evaluation. Put more within Muskie, undergraduate programs and other relevant research -- build on what is already there -- rather then moving the opposite direction. Administrative savings seems quite shortsighted and not really focused on building a quality USM that can provide the educated workforce that Maine needs.
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Please do what you can at these meetings to untangle the MOVING FORWARD we need to do with GenEd from the budget mess, will ya? We can't let naysayers confound the issues.
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If you're serious about retaining students through improved faculty teaching:
*recruit professors who have a proven teaching track record
*encourage faculty who have sub-par student evaluations (coupled with peer reviews of teaching, so not just the evaluation) take "brush-up courses" on teaching (other professions have continuing education requirements, why shouldn't faculty)?
*give excellent teachers bonuses
*post-tenure review must be continued
*have teaching "count" more for tenure. There seems to be an unwritten (although certainly not unspoken!) assumption that while good teaching gets you in the door for tenure, it's not enough. Some researchers are good teachers; some teachers are good researchers, but it's not true that all good researchers are good teachers, and vice versa.
On the other hand, if you want USM to be a better research institution:
*provide up-to-date research facilities
*don't cut travel or research funding!
* allow for more flexibility in teaching workload
Other thoughts:
*I agree with one of the previous comments that we should see why students are not transferring from SMCC as we had thought.
*Consolidate the "white houses," as planned! They are wasteful, isolating, and contribute to low morale
*The whole "two campus" thing is a huge problem. I have no idea what can be done to address it, but it doesn't seem sustainable (in any sense of the word).
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I am concerned about possible COLT layoffs and hope that COLT employees do not become the scapegoats for budget cutting. I believe budgets have been balanced on our backs for far too long. I do acknowledge, however, that some COLT layoffs may be needed. However, I hope USM will not do what it has done for many years now and that is eliminate the position, but not the work that goes with it. Expecting other COLT employees to take on more work from positions that have been eliminated is not a solution. If you deem that a position is no longer needed, then the work that goes with that position should no longer be needed either.
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During the summer months when the majority of the student population is not on campus, is it still necessary to have as much staff coverage? Would it be feasible to make more positions 9,10, or 11 month appointments, depending on the need for services provided? Clearly there is still a lot of activity going on in certain areas during the summer, but not for others.
Is it necessary to have duplicate services, personnel, and offices on all campuses? I realize that we need to be student focused, but is there a way to streamline the services provided and consolidate offices into more focused and cohesive units, depending on their function?
Instead of reducing the number of schools and colleges, how about restructuring them? Realign departments with the specific degree programs that they support -- in particular the departments in CAS (which is much too large a college to manage).
We should use open source applications to save us time and resources. USM programmers would spend more time delivering functionality rather than customizing and interfacing closed applications.
What is the most cost effective project duration for using PeopleSoft? How long should we keep it? There are open source alternatives.
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Binghamton University experienced significant budget crises of their own. One of their solutions was to completely close the campus between Christmas and New Years each year. What they saved was upwards of $300,000 in utility costs and vacation time (everyone was required to take vacation during that time, with a few exceptions.) They worked out all the details for faculty doing ongoing research that required energy and staff time during that time. Admissions staff worked to keep the applications being processed.
Cornell University used to do the same thing, only not requiring the staff to take time off. They just closed campus during that same week. A colleague there said they would save $150,000 to $200,000 annually in utilities alone.
I know that we need to make the kinds of changes that save us $100,000s to $1,000,000s annual. This kind of change once it is just part of the cultural norms would not dramatically impact the institution while making a sizable contribution annually into perpetuity.
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I think we are spending too much time and effort on trivial issues related to reducing expenses rather than looking at the other side of the coin. If we simply apply the Pareto's 80/20 principle we might come up with innovative ideas and interdisciplinary programs such as a Certificate Program that may involve faculty from School of Engineering, Mathematics and Business. Second, the full time faculty should be asked to introduce new courses which are aligned with modern time learning whereas Adjunct and Part-Time help should be involved in foundation courses. At times it is seen that the same faculty is teaching the same course/s for last 3 decades and perhaps using the same book. In order to improve retention ratios, we could also think of adding more practice-based courses that integrates with the core curriculum. Students appreciate learning if it resonates with the real work environment. This will certainly help increase revenues that will mitigate the budget problems, which will always be there.
USM has its Retiree Association that meets a couple of times a year for lunch and speakers. Instead of just meeting once in a while, why not ask if those willing would be interested in providing some type of work, either as volunteers or paid temps for small assignments, depending on the nature of the need. Those with office skills could help out with data entry projects, mailings, or other focused tasks that come up now and then and overwhelm existing staff members. Former faculty members and other professionals might assist in classrooms or with advising and other student services. Even if supported with stipends, this would save money on temporary agency fees, or on the need to expand staff.
1.The costs and contributions of all of the various "Centers" (this includes such entities as the Aquatic Systems Group and the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership) at USM should be evaluated.
2. Is leasing space at GMRI a wise use of money when USM is leasing space in the Science Building?
3. Do soft money positions for which USM provides direct or indirect financial support contribute to the core mission of USM?
Some staff might welcome the opportunity to go to a 10-month contract to get summers off here in Maine. This might work particularly well in some student service areas where there is lots of staff and fewer students on campus in the summer...as long as offices could be covered.
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Have we weighed into the closing of Nathan Clifford school? It seems like the Portland Public School's plight might be an opportunity for USM to procure a classic building on the P-land campus to develop a classroom building. Perhaps the new site for the music school? Or work with a developer to create loft/condo apartments? Or even team up with Maine Housing for lower income student or senior apartments.
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How about taking a page from LAC and consolidate departments...moving from traditional into interdisciplinary departments and perhaps move toward interdisciplinary degrees...Social and Behavioral Sciences could consolidate psych, soc, etc. International Studies could incorporate Poli Sci internationalists, languages, economics etc. Technology and applied sciences math, physics, chemistry. Cut back on dept. overhead but better yet reinvigorate teaching...maybe do some team teaching on interdisciplinary areas...can't you just see the comments in US News..."at USM you may have a class with not only one full professor....but maybe even two. What a great value"
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Develop a vital and active formal coop program at USM. This would make us unique amongst the U's in the state as well as address two critical issues: 1.The need find a way for students to pay for college and 2. Address the economic development of southern Maine (and endear ourselves to the business community).
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Cut off all equipment or other major purchases in early June to make sure that departments don't overspend their budgets. This was firm policy at other universities where I have worked...assumed that was the case at USM until I heard from the Logic Shop that they were going crazy with orders at the end of June...how many of those purchases put department budgets into the hole thus adding to the deficit? Also: is there a recommendation on what is outdated computer equipment at the U? My computer was more than 10 years old and was showing the infamous "blue screen of death" before I got a new one.
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Cut back costs of staffing of residence hall desks, the library or other areas by closing them down earlier or opening them later.
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I am very optimistic and enthusiastic. We are open for business! But regarding the request to provide suggestions to help "reorganize in a fashion that ensures new synergies and reduces administrative overhead", I would like to note it is illogical to do this without being familiar with the various expenses involved. I could spend time thinking and then make a suggestion, but how would I know if my idea would save money or cost money? Obviously, the first step in the process would necessarily be a sharing of budget details with everyone and then requesting that everyone address the relative budgetary expenses each time they make a suggestion. I recognize that decisions need to be made quickly to address budgetary crises, but the current suggestion process cannot provide any effective help. Also, given the sophistication of the staff and faculty of a university, I don't think the current suggestion process can provide a sustainable impression that we are involved and invested in the strategic process without it being preceded by budget transparency. I apologize if that already exists and I just need to be directed to it.
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We must focus on sustaining the academic core of USM, and we must continue to engage in planning for future academic programs. I feel strongly that sustaining faculty development must also be a priority. We cannot get leaner by cutting what a university must have to be academic at all. I say this because I hear all kinds of anxieties that seem to me not only unlikely but disruptive. Everyone seems in a mode to protect themselves and feel others should not have any new vision. That would mean nothing but a void.
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While some courses need to be offered each semester or academic year, some may be able to be offered less often. We could preserve the variety of our course offerings, while offering fewer choices each year if we listed after each course in the catalogue the times the course is offered.
Here are some examples: Spring only. Summer in odd years. Fall, even years only.
HRD 556 -- The Summer Institute in Student Affairs is offered every other summer, odd years.
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1- Determine if there are any faculty or staff who are key to retain in terms of quality, unique skill sets, or other added value to the University and make efforts to do so, so that human assets that will be key to moving forward are retained for the future (and to avoid them expending their energy in a job search rather than focusing on their work at USM)
2- Once you have strategies in place, engage faculty and staff in them. Give people manageable yet meaningful chunks of work to do so that each person feels as if s/he is contributing to the success of USM. As an example, you could do this by identifying a set number of specific efforts and asking each person to commit personally to one -- for example: contribute to the annual fund, volunteer in Opening Weekend activities, participate in the student mentor program, or talk to one person about USM as a college option. People feel overwhelmed thinking about the larger picture without having specific actions to take but if each person took one action it would make a difference. You could channel energy into positive efforts as well as those perceived as negative (cut back on professional development, don't order equipment).
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As the next draft of the SMI is shaped, I believe there is an opportunity for setting an even more distinct strategic direction given the current employment trends of the state and the region's underlying economy. Let me offer this disclaimer: To a man with a hammer, the world seems filled with nails. However, from my vantage point as an advocate for the private sector and a strong Maine economy, I believe we are in a period that requires employing our public resources toward growing the private sector.
As you can see, jobs in government, education and health care grew by 3,300 positions over the two-year period while the private sector had a net loss of 500 positions during the same period. Even though these are statewide figures, they may help inform our direction for USM.
From my perspective, the private sector (family-owned businesses and corporations) is the ultimate source of all taxes and charitable giving. A strong and growing private sector is the foundation of funding for our state and local governments inclusive of funding for K-12 and higher education.
However, if employment is accelerating in the public and non-profit sectors while private sector growth in Maine is lumpy, at best, then the prospects for long-term prosperity in all sectors are dim. The current imbalance is not sustainable.
Yes, it is possible that USM could continue to leverage its growth in support of public and non-profit employment (hospitals, health care, public sector management and research a.k.a. Maine Medical Center, Mercy Hospital, Muskie School, etc.). These centers of excellence could draw new students, tuition dollars and grants from across the state and around the globe. The outputs, however, would be continued graduation of government and non-profit employees as well as health care workers (the latter being in short supply here and across the nation).
On the other hand, USM can be a significant player in growing the wealth -- creating private sector. Businesses and economic development professionals have spoken clearly that they need well-educated and technically skilled employees in order to grow or expand their enterprises in Maine. In that same vein, we need to graduate and support more entrepreneurs who will start, grow or relocate their businesses in Maine.
It is not, however, an either/or question but one of achieving a more reasonable balance so that, in the long run, growth of the private sector can adequately fund the services of the public and non-profit sectors.
One of the messages from the Grow Smart / Brookings Report was that we need to make a few strategic investments that have a robust return rather than spread too few resources across the state that make little or no discernable impact. Similarly, the University of Southern Maine, as it reorganizes itself for the decade(s) ahead, can choose to make an immediate and measurable impact on growing a vibrant private sector by focusing its resources where it will have the greatest measurable return on investment.
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If USM is looking to increase our retention rates, it may be worthwhile to look at who is being admitted to USM in the first place. In particular, those students who are being admitted to the GO program.
What is the retention rate for this population of students? What are the resources that are being expended on a yearly basis to support this population of students? I have had the opportunity to work with many GO students with a varying level of success. In order to focus our efforts on retaining our first to second year students and beyond, we should put our resources where they will make the most difference.
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Create a Graduate School
Combine key colleges into a College of Professional Studies
How many departments could be apart of CAS? like Women's Studies
We seem to be a top heavy administrative university in many of the divisions. How many Directors, Deans, Associate Deans etc. do we have?
Can we eliminate some of these positions and build front line positions, such as coordinators etc. We need more staff working directly with students.
Career and Professional Life with a stronger connection to advising. Should Career and Professional Life and Advising be tied to each other in some structural form?
Should Service Learning and Civic Engagement be under the Learning Center to tie more closely to academics?
It seems interesting that many schools have their own Student Affairs professionals. Why not create positions that are apart of Student and University Life but dual report to various schools. We are duplicating services with the structure we have now.
Could all diversity programs be under one area? Many departments put on their own co-curricular programs and have money to do this. How does that money get portioned out to various departments? Some academic departments don't have co-curricular funding. More transparent process or structure for giving this type of funding.
Support for departments to build and maintain their websites.
Whatever happened to the conversation about Gorham College? Would this save money in the long run?
Sustainability: Some universities have closed their campuses during holiday seasons for a week to save energy.
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This morning you stated that part of the reason for the decline in dorm students 10 years ago was the elimination of undergraduate education as a major, which you feel was the philosophically right decision to make and you were not going to revisit it.
While I may understand that statement, I could still argue that adding undergraduate education may be all we need to attract enough FT undergraduates to reach the goals of Moving Forward. ETEP is a fabulous program.
It is asking a lot of high school students aspiring to the teaching profession to attend USM with the expectation of going on full year longer than they would at St. Joe's, UNE, Farmington, or UMaine. Our students take a full year longer to receive certification, and there is no guarantee from the outset of their acceptance to USM that they will be accepted into ETEP. If USM allows art and music majors to graduate in four years with a teaching degree, why not anyone who wants certification? As a parent, I would urge my offspring to look elsewhere for a teaching degree where acceptance into the college guaranteed graduation with teaching certification (providing their performance is acceptable), and where they could start their career and begin earning FT money a year earlier than possible at USM.
Thirty years ago there was a real need for the services offered by Lifeline. Today's market has seen a plethora of athletic facilities open in southern Maine: state-of-the-art YMCAs, municipal adult education classes, Curves, Planet Fitness, Pilates studios, and Yoga centers. Does Lifeline still make sense? Does it still make money? Would USM be better served if Lifeline was downsized to serve only the needs of students, and employees? Administratively, would it make sense for Athletics to manage Sullivan?
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Let's make a college within USM. A college with its own dormitory, cafeteria, classrooms, labs. And let me put staff, students, and faculty who are all interested in outcomes-based learning, interdisciplinary learning, learning communities, applied learning, and active learning. This is more important than the subject content. I bet it would greatly improve retention.
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Has anyone thought about merging duplicate offices/services on the campuses? For example, both campuses have a health center, early student success office, counseling, reslife, billing and advising. Although these services are convenient and allow for easy access by our students, there is also a real cost to running them and given our current fiscal crisis, perhaps it’s time to combine/eliminate some of them.
#1 I would suggest moving health/counseling to Gorham. Many of our first year students don't have cars or connections outside the university so it makes sense to offer those services in Gorham. In Portland, there are several local clinics and services available and easily accessible to the population.
#2 I think there are currently two Early Student Success offices that were created last year. The main purpose of these offices is to help students transition to campus life and retain students. The office provides some basic programming and support, but mostly refers students to other offices/resources. Doesn’t advising, counseling, athletics, residential life, student involvement and the dean’s office provide the same service for the same population?
#3 Residential Life should shut down Portland Hall. However, this may be a moot point since it is for sale.
#4 Student Billing and Advising are tricky. Obviously they are both very important, but given our financial crisis, it may be necessary to have them located on only 1 campus, not both. Even though it isn’t as convenient, students will adjust to this change.
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Increase the normal faculty teaching load to 12 hours for undergraduate and 9 hours for graduate. This will make more sense in the future if USM continues the current trend of adding more 4 credit hour courses at the undergraduate level.
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I suggest that summer classes be scheduled through the registrar. Having to work with the summer session office to schedule our program's summer classes is an added headache. These classes are all program requirements and need to be taught for students to complete their degrees. Having to work with a different staff and rules for summer classes is time consuming and confusing for students, faculty and staff.
Could the summer session office be part of travel and special programs? It seems like that would be a better focus for it. Most students want/expect summer classes these days and the different rules for summer classes are a disincentive to students to enroll.
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(1) The Univ. of Maine System needs to create a more coordinated program of Graduate level education. USM has 27 graduate programs and many of these, including those at LAC, are similar to offerings at UM. How about creating an integrated system of graduate level education so that one degree is offered in each area regardless of the location of the campus. Over time (maybe) efficiencies and cost savings could be gained in terms of the administrative operations necessary to these degree programs as they become more centralized. You mentioned demographics in your speech, it is hard to understand why Maine needs this type of duplication from a program administrative perspective across similar graduate level programs. Finally, given the advancements in distance education, course offerings could be further refined and perhaps Faculty with specific expertise in areas would have more opportunity to develop courses that better connect their research to the classroom. It is not hard to imagine groups of Faculty forming around certain content areas across the UMS -- and thereby creating more enriched courses for students at the Graduate level. Also, this process can identify opportunities for upper level undergraduate courses that could be offered across the system through distance education. I think USM needs to assess each of its areas of Graduate level of education and identify those that would benefit from some type of coordination --integration with similar graduate programs in other parts of UMS.
(2) An appropriate role for USM is in the area of professional education and training (workforce development) -- serving adults in the workforce who need to increase their skills to stay viable. I see this as an area that needs to be addressed in terms of; who is doing what at USM, and then identifying opportunities for units or groups to be connected to realize better products and more efficiencies in delivering this kind of educational activity. The idea here is not to grow more workforce development activity, the idea is to assess the current scale and scope of this kind of activity with the goal of enhancing offerings in order to be more attractive to customers/adult students. This area of activity is a natural focus of the USM just based on its locations in Maine with teaching/training facilities in the Portland area, LA and Augusta. Again, you mentioned demographics...pressures are already present for workers to stay employed longer and this means for many that they will have to seek addtl education/training to be viable.
(3) The key words seem to me to be "spend less", and "reduce scale and scope". I ask as this process unfolds, that there is information presented in more detail about the budget/finances. If programs are discontinued, please indicate how that will result in actual savings or reductions. For example, you mention selling a piece of real estate -- what is the estimated gain from that sale and cost saving going forward? What is the dollar amount difference between an enrollment of 10,000 compared to 11,000? If 30 positions will not be filled, what are the actual savings in dollar amounts to the USM? How much debt does USM have that the System is willing to assist with, what is the amount?
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It has been especially helpful for me to think about some of the things you said in a "parallel process" kind of way about our own program in Counselor Education; we often need to utilize as a guiding principle that we cannot be "all things to all people" -- as you know we have a popular program (large #'s of applicants) in mental health counseling and we often have to rein in (because of accreditation) and prioritize our matriculated students. This is tough as I often think of how Maine could use more counselors (our students typically are hired before they graduate) and we have to turn away a lot of good candidates during admissions. This is an ongoing set of thoughts for me as we continue to also reach out through distance programs, offer more electives and have students from other graduate programs (like social work, nursing, school psych) elect our courses.
Another main issue for me, on a larger scale at USM is the "great divide" we have between graduates and undergraduates, or so it seems. I have been struck by comments by people in undergraduate programs who might, for example, not even know we exist. This is not for enrollments, as we don't really need the exposure for that, but because of the climate in general (I like to think of it as interpersonal sustainability or what Lee Knefelkamp writes of as engagement).
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I am wondering if it wouldn't make sense, in the light of our financial situation, to take a year off from the Provost's Teaching Fellowships and the Teaching Enhancement Grants. I have two reasons for this, apart from the purely symbolic one: we really do struggle every year to get nominees in all three categories and to give awards to people whose teaching is exemplary AND whose project proposals make sense.
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Perhaps a College of the Environment. If Unity and College of the Atlantic can survive on environmental programs perhaps we can and draw students who cannot afford private school tuition.
What about having everyone at the university list five things done well by other departments/programs? This can be a means of identifying success stories so we can learn from them and use them, without having to worry about people blowing their own horns.
Why is it that only the academics seem to have regular external assessments (class evaluations)? Why not have more evaluations of services provided. This would tend to lead toward more efficiencies in the services provided by academic support units and other entities.
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A 37-½ hour workweek, casual Fridays, and a voluntary 4-day summer workweek worked well at my former institution.
Also, there is so much duplication of effort and disorganization at USM! Analyze what really needs to be done, by how many people, and organize it using common sense and more non-professional staff with the focus on service. Aggressively follow the PR plan to boost enrollment.
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In response to your invitation, I am writing to suggest some strategies and tactics for responding to the current financial difficulties that face USM. My suggestions are aimed both at improving the financial performance of USM and enhancing the research mission of the University.
Although financial crises can be painful to many, they also afford a rare opportunity to effect important structural changes that can transform a university in the long term. If the purpose of creating a University Research Council and appointment of a Chief Research Officer is to transform the research mission of USM, I think fundamental changes are needed to do this. These may be possible with the consolidation/reorganization that may accompany plans to remedy the financial crisis.
In my view, the single most important factor that affects the research culture of a university is the faculty that is hired and tenured. Hire faculty with proven records of research/scholarship and require high standards for tenure and promotion and the culture of the university will be transformed.
In practical terms, this can be accomplished in a variety of ways. The following are some suggestions.
1. Create vacancies through an early retirement incentive program and renewing 2-year contracts only for assistant professors who are making clear progress toward developing their research programs.
2. In units without a strong research profile, make replacement or new research appointments at the associate or full professor rank and aggressively recruit previously funded investigators.
3. Expand the role of research professors in units capable of generating long term contracts to support research, fee-generating service, and teaching. Because these positions are self-funding, units can reduce their hard money positions to address the budget problem while maintaining or even expanding their faculty.
4. Combine programs/units that have similar or overlapping missions/content. An example in CEHD is special education and school psychology. These two programs are often combined at other universities because the theory and methods coursework overlap considerably. Just as an example, I think that by merging school psychology and special education it would be possible to reduce the number of special education faculty from three to two. It would also be possible to finance one of the two lines with a research professorship with the replication of my lab in Lewiston or Portland.
5. Provide significant incentive for faculty to maintain their research/scholarship productivity by linking teaching load to levels of productivity. Reduced teaching loads can be supported by bringing on new research faculty whose positions are funded by contracts and grants.
These measures are strong ones to be sure, but I believe they would both improve financial performance and help transform the research culture at USM.
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1) more on Portland Hall and Nathan Clifford. "We" should send a delegation to the school board and the city to see what they think of the idea, and if they like it, then a PR campaign in the neighborhood. I bet there are plenty of USM faculty/staff who had kids at Nathan Clifford and would be effective spokespersons.
2) Faculty workload. As I read AFUM contract the course load is 4/4. Faculty who are doing research have course load = 3/3. Given the financial exigencies, now is a good time to deal with all the faculty
teaching 3/3 who haven't published a peer-reviewed article, a chapter in a book, a nationally circulated report, a book, or a successful grant in the past 6 semesters.
PT faculty cost +/-$3K per section, so every 10 sections for which we don't have to hire PT faculty is a cost savings of $30K, and then with benefits on top of that (17% I think for PT?) = $35K/AY.
$35K x XFaculty = a whole bunch of money. (that is the scientific way of expressing this:)
3. Recruiting Out of State Undergraduate Students. This is at least the 3rd time I've brought this up ... maybe someone is listening?
Probably 95% of USM faculty graduated from a high school in the united states that is still in existence. If there were some sort of general letter, that could be tailored to each faculty person (tinkered with), that would be sent to the guidance people at the HS from which they graduated: "Dear Name of Guidance Counselor" (we get this info from internet, once the faculty give us their HS grad. info, and permission to do this)
Writing to you b/c I graduated from XYZ High School in 19__. I am now a professor of ABC at University of Southern Maine. I think students at XYZ high school would love to attend USM. Why?
Letter covers a catalog. One such letter to each person in the guidance office. Relevant professors name, email, phone on the letter.
With 300 faculty, a 1% success rate = 3 students in year one. These have a high multiplication rate.
And this outreach is pretty cheap as these things go.
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Why is Women & Gender Studies independent from any college, with a director rather than a department chair? Perhaps "director" is warranted, since that person runs a department that shares so many faculty from other departments. Although the number of majors is small, they seem to do good work -- the labs on Wednesday are filled, touching the experience of many USM students who are not WGS majors. BUT, shouldn't the department be housed in CAS, the college where their professors are from? Wouldn't they benefit by being part of a larger college, and wouldn't it just make more sense administratively to have them report to Devinder?
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UNH admins from deans to prez have been pretty honest about saying the last early retirement program at UNH did *not* end up with at all the kinds of savings they'd projected, and have said it is unclear when they'd offer it again. So many folks took it, maybe depleting the "essential" jobs like was mentioned yesterday? I don't know why, but supposedly the finances got a bit burned because there were huge costs, too... They were offering some percentage of your salary + $25K and full health.
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