Budget seasons have been less uncertain at the University System of Maryland, where leaders have taken a different approach: voluntarily paring back costs. Their efforts are paying off, in more ways than one. The cost-savings plan, dubbed the Effectiveness and Efficiency Initiative, begun in 2004, has saved $94-million so far at the 11-campus system, which includes two research institutes and two regional branches. More important, it has also bought the university a heap of good will in Annapolis, the state capital. Before the plan was adopted, says State Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, many of his colleagues were skeptical that the university was doing enough to constrain spending. But the grumbling has been replaced by trust and a sense of teamwork, he says. In return, lawmakers have been generous with the system, consistently ponying up for higher costs attributed to enrollment increases. The university has been able to freeze tuition for three years, which has led to backslapping news conferences of university leaders and politicians.