Your Retirement Benefits

Depending on when you were hired, you may participate in a select tier of the UC Retirement Plan (UCRP), which is a traditional defined benefit pension plan providing lifetime retirement income, disability, and death benefits for eligible University of California (UC) employees. The plan is for eligible staff, with benefits based on age, service credit, and highest average earnings. 

Who Can Participate?

• Eligible Employees: Participation is automatic for staff with appointments of 50% time or more for one year or longer

• Alternative Eligibility: Employees in limited appointment positions may become eligible after working 1,000 hours in a rolling 12-month period.

Key Aspects of Pension Choice

• Predictable Income: Offers a lifetime monthly benefit, with options for survivor benefits.

• Vesting: You are generally vested after 5 years of service credit.

• Calculation: Your pension is determined by a formula multiplying your age at retirement, your years of service, and your highest average consecutive 36 months of pay. 

• Retirement Age: UAW represented staff maintain excellent pension tiers. Your earliest retirement age and maximum pension factor depend on your retirement tier. Under the 2016 Tier (employees hired July 1, 2016 and after) , the earliest retirement age is 55, and you reach the highest percentage of salary you can receive for each year of service at age 65. If you are eligible for the older 1976 Tier (generally pre-2013 hires), you may retire as early as age 50, and can reach the highest percentage of the final average salary you can receive for each year of service at age 60.

* The 2016 Tier also includes those employees who were rehired or after July 1, 2016, after a break in service; as well as those who became newly eligible for benefits on or after July 1, 2016

This is a 401(k) style plan where retirement income is based on employee contributions and performance in a tax-deferred account. 

Who can participate: 

• Eligible Employees: Participation is automatic for staff with appointments of 50% time or more for one year or longer who were hired into an eligible career staff appointment on or after July 1, 2016

• Alternative Eligibility: Employees in limited appointment positions may become eligible after working 1,000 hours in a rolling 12-month period.

• Additionally, those who were hired in an ineligible position before July 1, 2016 and then became eligible for retirement benefits on or after July 1, 2016. Those who are rehired into an eligible career staff appointment on or after July 1, 2016, following a break in service are also eligible. 

Key Aspects of Savings Choice

• Contributions: You contribute 7% of your eligible pay and UC contributes 8%, up to the annual IRS pay maximum.

• Opportunity to switch: You have a “second choice window” to switch to Pension Choice. The second choice window opens on January 1st of the fifth anniversary of the calendar year in which the Savings Choice election was made and extends through May 31st five years later. Your election will be effective July 1st immediately following the May 31st annual submission deadline.

For example, if you are were hired on August 1, 2026, and within 90 days of your hiring, you choose to enroll in Savings Choice Plan, on January 1st of 2031, your “second choice” window opens, and you have until May 31st, 2036 to elect to submit an election form to permanently switch to the Pension Choice plan. If you submit the election form to switch to the Pension choice Plan on May 30, 2032, this change will be effective on July 1st, 2032. If your election form is received on or after June 1, 2032, the election will be effective July 1, 2033. 

The service credit you earned while a participant in Savings Choice counts toward vesting in UCRP, but will not count as UCRP service credit toward the calculation of your pension benefit. However, you keep all your existing funds in the Savings Choice plan even once you switch into the pension. 

DCP Pre-Tax Account/Safe Harbor 

If you are a part-time, seasonal, or temporary employee, you are not eligible to participate in the University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP). However, instead of contributing 7.5% of your wages to Social Security, under IRS “Safe Harbor” provisions, you instead contribute, on a pre-tax basis, 7.5% to the University of California Defined Contribution Plan (DCP). You may also make voluntary contributions to DCP or any UC retirement saving program plans. 

The default investment is the UC Pathway Fund. There are several variants of these funds, with different asset mixtures, based on expected retirement age. For example, if you expect to retire in the next 5 years, you may be enrolled in UC Pathway Fund 2035 which has a more conservative portfolio. If you expect to retire in 40 years, you may be enrolled in UC Pathway Fund 2070, which is a more aggressive initial portfolio that will transition to more conservative as it comes closer to 2065. The funds are designed for those who do not want to go through the process of selecting their investments and instead want a pre-set mix of investments that include a diversified portfolio of stock, bond and short-term investments in a single fund that gradually grows more conservative as the fund nears its target date. You can find a list of these funds here, as well as other UC funds which you can choose to contribute to instead:https://myucretirement.com/resources/articles/0038.   

What happens to your DCP account if you leave the UC?

• If the balance is at least $2,000, you can leave the assets in the account.

• You may arrange for a direct rollover to an IRA or another employer-sponsored plan which accepts rollovers, or purchase a commercial annuity.

• You may request that some or all of assets are paid out to you (if you are under 59 ½, these payments will be subject to ordinary income taxes + a 10% federal penalty tax and a 2.5% state penalty tax).