At least two faculty members in the Theatre Department are considering looking for new jobs after realizing the retirement plans they signed up for don't come with health insurance.

Faculty in the department say they began mulling over their options about a month ago after Human Resources informed costume designer Tara Maginnis that if she retired early to be with her dying mother in California, her plan wouldn't provide benefits. And even if she retired at the right time she wouldn't, since her plan didn't have benefits at all.

"We're probably over time going to look for work elsewhere," Maginnis said.

The problems arise from the type of plan Maginnis and others in the department chose. When faculty are hired, they are given a choice of either joining the state's Teacher Retirement System, or TRS, or the university's Optional Retirement Plan, also called ORP. The choice is irrevocable and must be made within 30 days of hiring.

The university handbook on ORP makes it clear the plan comes with no medical benefits, while TRS provides benefits for retirees, spouses and dependants. But Maginnis and others in the department, each of whom was hired on different years in the past two decades, say they were never told ORP didn't have the benefits and say they feel like they were misled. And they say they doubt they're the only ones employed at the university to make this mistake.

"We were definitely under the impression we would have that benefit," said Kade Mendelowitz, the chair of the department, referring to himself and his wife.

More than 50 percent of university faculty are on ORP, said Mike Humphrey, the director of benefits at UAF. Humphrey said that because ORP was established by the Legislature and not by the university, many of the rules, such as the mandatory 30 day decision time limit, are out of UAF's hands.

"That's built into state statute," he said. "We don't have a choice on that one."

The theater group's concerns grew to the point where Humphrey was called in to explain what exactly their plans did cover, Maginnis said. They were informed they had access to the federal government's Medicare program, if they paid in. Otherwise, the university had no plan, and it was too late to switch to TRS.

Humphrey said faculty on ORP should be able to save enough to have a stable retirement.

"Retiree health care is very expensive," he said. "But the contributions were set at a low enough rate that they should have been able to set aside enough."

For a new faculty member hired today, ORP carries a 12 percent employer contribution and an 8 percent mandatory employee contribution.

The appeal of ORP is its mobility. With the state retirement system, employees can only move within the K-12 education system, the university, and a few state agencies, Humphrey said. With ORP, the money is in private hands, allowing a faculty member mobility to leave the state for a new job.

"Nobody knows if you're going to be here for 30 years," said Carrie Baker, as assistant theater professor, speaking in general terms and not about herself. "You don't even know if you'll be here through the winter."

Retirement requires planning. Employees should seek financial advice to make sure they're prepared, Humphrey said.

"Fact is all of us need to do that," he said. "You need to map that out with a financial professional."

Maginnis, 48, had been considering leaving the university already after receiving word that her mother in California was dying of cancer. But for the others in the department, the news that their jobs would not offer them a stable living post-retirement was enough to make them reconsider where they were.

Four people in the department signed up for ORP. Each member is in different places in their lives, and for some quitting is more realistic than for others.

For Anatoly Antohin, 58, who is married and tenured, it's probably too late in the game to find a new job. He has had two strokes in the past two years, most recently in December. But if he were to retire, he would not have university coverage.

"I cannot even think about early retirement," he said. "In a sense I'm stuck sticking around, which is fine so far as I feel fine."

For at least two others, though, including Mendelowitz, 41, the likelihood of looking for a new job is higher. He said he and his wife will discuss this summer whether or not to seek employment at a different university.

"This is a major blow," he said.

Maginnis said she can't understand how this could have happened. When she started at the university in 1990, she said, she was told ORP was the best plan for her. She would never have signed up for the plan if she'd known it didn't have medical, she said, and neither would the rest of the department.

"It has seriously frightened us," Maginnis said, "and impressed upon us how nothing gets communicated at UAF, or when it does, it's always bad news."