Up With People has been losing money, $3.2 million in Fiscal Year 2000, and they are suspending operations. When an acquaintance of mine joined for a year, I was amazed to find that the participants have to pay a fee (currently $14,300) and are responsible for their own health insurance and sundry expenses. But I guess that doesn’t cover all the costs of the production (much like how college tuition doesn’t even begin to cover a college’s expenses). It is a non-profit group, and they do offer scholarships for the fee. So they depend heavily on donations, which have been declining while their expenses have been climbing. The last performance is December 29th at the Holiday Bowl. I’m expecting tears on the faces of the performers. (via Kestrel’s Nest who pointed to a CNN article about it)