This section provides an overview of many benefits available to faculty and staff. In the event of conflict between the overview provided in this handbook and the plan document or insurance plan, the plan document or insurance plan will govern. Complete descriptions are not possible in the handbook; employees should contact Human Resources for specific plan details. The Labor Agreement governs in the case of Union employees in all aspects of this section. Regular non-union employees who have a schedule involving a (.46) FTE or above, and Union employees who have a (.50) FTE or above are eligible to participate in the College’s benefit programs.

Carleton College will comply with all applicable laws such as ACA, FMLA, federal, state, and any applicable regulations.

Employment & Benefits

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Retirement Plan

The College makes Retirement Plan contributions for regular, benefit-eligible employees 21 years of age or older, to the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) and allows eligible employees to invest discretionary salary reduction contributions in tax deferred annuities and custodial accounts.

The general terms of the Carleton College TIAA-CREF Plan (herein-after sometimes referred to as the “Plan”) are as follows. Please contact Human Resources for specific plan information:

Eligibility

Participation in the Plan will begin on the first of the month following the first month of employment. If the employment date occurs on the first working day of the month, the benefit becomes effective immediately and shall be based on the following:

An active employee is required to participate in this plan if they are 21 years old or older, and meet all of the following requirements:

1. You normally work at least 18.4 hours per week (or the equivalent for teachers) and for at least 9 months each year, OR
2. You normally work at least 1,000 hours in a pension plan year.

Any employee who is participating in a shared appointment and who meets requirements 1 and 2 must participate in the Plan.

Union Employee Eligibility: For employees who are part of a union, their ability to join the plan depends on the agreement between the union and the College. If you’re covered by a union agreement, you can’t be in this plan unless that agreement specifically allows it. Even if the official union agreement expires, we’ll still follow its rules during negotiations until a new agreement is made.

For accounting and reporting purposes, the pension plan year shall be the calendar year.

Plan Contributions

Mandatory Contributions: Employees are required to contribute 2% of their salary and the College contributes an additional 10% for a total contribution of 12% of salary to the Retirement Plan.  There’s a limit to how much money can go into your retirement account each year. The IRS sets these limits (Code 403(b)(12)), and we cannot contribute more than what they allow for anyone in the plan.

Employees will be auto enrolled into the mandatory retirement plan upon meeting the eligibility criteria above. Contributions are tax deferred until benefits are paid out.

Voluntary Contributions: In addition, each participant may choose to enroll into the Supplemental Retirement Account. This allows you to contribute extra money from your paycheck. The amount you can add each year has a limit set by the IRS. This extra contribution doesn’t count towards the 2% you already put in.

• • Age 50+ Catch-Up: If you’re 50 years old or older, you can contribute an additional amount to your retirement plan annually.
  • Ages 60-63 Special Catch-Up: If you are age 60, 61, 62, or 63 during the year, you may be eligible to contribute an even higher additional amount.
  • Carleton 15-Year Service Catch-Up: If you have 15 years or more of service at Carleton College, you may be able to contribute an additional $3,000. This specific catch-up has a total lifetime limit of $15,000. Employees must work directly with TIAA to determine eligibility and complete the required paperwork.

Leaves of Absence

During a leave of absence, contributions made by the College and by the individual will be based on the compensation paid to a participant during such time.

Contracts

Each TIAA retirement annuity contract and CREF certificate is for the sole purpose of providing a retirement and/or death benefit and is the property of the individual participant.

Spouses’ Rights

Benefits may only be paid for married participants in the Plan under a qualified joint and survivor annuity or qualified pre-retirement survivor annuity meeting the requirements of the Retirement Equity Act of 1984, unless a written waiver of the benefit by the employee and a written consent to the waiver by the spouse is filed with TIAA-CREF. This provision applies to Repurchase, Retirement Benefits, and Death Benefits.

Cash Withdrawal

A participant who has attained age 55 may receive a cash withdrawal as permitted by the funding vehicle. Cash withdrawals may not be received while the participant is employed at Carleton College.  Amounts paid to the participant on cash withdrawal shall be in full satisfaction of the participant’s, and his or her spouse’s, rights to retirement and/or death benefits attributable to such amounts paid out.  A participant electing such a cash withdrawal should review tax consequences of the action with a TIAA-CREF representative and/or personal tax adviser prior to the transaction.

Annuity Income

Although annuity income usually begins on the normal retirement date, participants may begin to receive income from the plan at any time, which may be earlier or later than the normal retirement date. However, if a participant is employed by the College on the date when benefits under the plan commence, he or she will cease to be a participant of the plan and no further contributions will be made on his or her behalf.

Retirement benefits must normally begin no later than the calendar year in which the age of 70 1/2 is reached unless still employed by Carleton College. Failure to begin annuity income by the required beginning date may subject a participant to a substantial federal tax penalty. If still employed at Carleton College after age 70 1/2, a participant must begin distributions following termination of employment.

Effective Date

The effective date of this retirement plan shall be September 1, 1970. The plan is amended and restated as of July 1, 2009.

Tax Deferred Annuities and Custodial Accounts

Description

Carleton College offers a Group Supplemental Tax-Deferred Annuity plan in addition to its regular retirement plan. Also for those employees who might prefer to use “403(b)7’s” as a means of tax deferral, the College processes 403(b)7 custodial accounts (available in the form of “mutual funds”). Through a properly drawn salary reduction agreement with the College, employees may reduce the portion of compensation which is currently subject to taxes, and contribute that amount toward the purchase of one of these tax-deferred investment options.

There is a limit to the amount of tax-deferred contribution the College can make on an employee’s behalf, called the “exclusion allowance.” There is an exact computation process which establishes the absolute maximum available to an employee for any given year. The Office of Human Resources will provide instructions for obtaining this important calculation from TIAA-CREF.

Administration

The vice president and treasurer is authorized to act on behalf of the College in connection with these annuities and custodial accounts and to establish such rules and regulations as deemed appropriate for them.

Regulatory Requirements

The College’s activities shall be limited to those permitted in Labor Department Regulation 25010.3-2(f) such that this program will not be deemed to be a pension plan maintained by the College and will not result in additional reporting obligations for the College.

Effective Date

The effective date of this program was September 1, 1992.

Note: For purposes of this policy, “salary” means base salary excluding overtime, bonuses, summer and other supplementary pay. In accordance with IRS Code 401(a) (17), salary taken into account under the plan cannot exceed amounts indexed per IRS Code 4l5(d)).

Last Revised: January 25, 2011

For: Faculty, Staff

Last Reviewed: May 15, 2025

Maintained by: Human Resources

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