Big 10 Comparison:
The majority of Universities within the Big 10 do not have a clearly defined policy for postdoctoral retirement benefits. Of the 5 Universities that do offer a retirement plan, individuals classified as Postdoctoral Fellows (funded from a fellowship or award that is from an external source e.g NIH) are ineligible to enroll in any university initiated policy. In comparison, Postdoctoral Scholars (or Associates) have some options, and for each school these are listed below;
Penn State University: No retirement benefits
Source: Policy HR68 POSTDOCTORAL APPOINTMENTS
TAX-DEFERRED ANNUITIES: Retirement savings options available to Postdoctoral Scholars and Fellows are limited to contributions to either a Traditional or Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Traditional IRAs offer the opportunity to reduce federal taxable income, subject to IRS limitations, when federal income tax returns are filed. IRA enrollment and payments options are done on an individual basis and are unrelated to University benefit programs. Traditional and Roth IRAs are available from insurance companies and mutual fund companies as well as most banks.
Indiana University: No retirement benefits
Michigan State University: No retirement benefits
University Of Minnesota: Yes
http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/img/assets/18622/9546.pdf
Postdoctoral Associates are eligible for enrollment in a 403 (b) or 457 plan. Employee contributions are voluntary and not matched by the University.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Yes – but not if you hold a F or J visa
https://nessie.uihr.uillinois.edu/pdf/benefits/benefitsummarybooklet.pdf
Postdoctoral Scholars (except those with a J or F visa) are eligible to participate in the State Universities Retirement System (SURS). The employee contribution is 8% of gross earnings and depending on the plan, the University makes a 7-10% contribution.
University Of Iowa: Yes
http://www.grad.uiowa.edu/Postdoc/Socialsec.asp
Postdoctoral Scholars are required to participate in the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) retirement program. Contributions are 3.7% of each paycheck, while the University contributes 5.75% towards your retirement fund.
The Ohio State University: Yes
http://hr.osu.edu/Policy/empben/index.aspx
Postdoctoral Researchers are eligible for Ohio Retirement Plans; Alternative Retirement Plan (ARP) or Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) and Supplemental Retirement Account (SRA). There are different criteria for each plan but in general, employee contributions are 10% and the University contributes 14%.
University Of Michigan: No retirement benefits
Northwestern University: Yes
http://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/emptype/postdoc.html
Postdoctoral Fellows (except NIH and NRSA) are classified as staff and are therefore eligible to participate in the university retirement plan after one year of continuous employment (can be waived in certain circumstances). The University makes matching contributions that are at least twice that of the employee contributions; these are determined by age and years of service etc, but for most Postdocs the contribution would likely be 2%, matched by 4% from the University.
Purdue University: No retirement benefits
University Of Wisconsin - Madison: No retirement benefits
Other Universities:
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill: Yes
http://postdocs.unc.edu/?q=node/43
This information was pretty hard to find! Postdoctoral Associates are eligible for enrollment in a 403 (b) plan. Employee contributions are voluntary and not matched by the University.
University of California - Berkeley: Yes
http://postdoc.berkeley.edu/ Academic Personnel Manual 390
Postdoctoral Scholars (paid by the University) contribute to the University of California Defined Contribution Plan as Safe Harbor participants and are not eligible for the University of California Retirement Plan. Employee contributions are 7.5% and not matched by the University.
At present, the primary problem is that Postdoctoral Scholars at Penn State are not classified as employees and therefore are not eligible to participate in the retirement plans offered by the University. However, it appears that several Big 10 schools (Ohio, Iowa, Northwestern) have successfully created retirement policies for their Postdoctoral Scholars, which suggests that the next step is to contact representatives from these Universities to determine how this was achieved.
