Faculty members and P&A staff save for retirement through the Faculty Retirement Plan (FRP), which is a 401(a) retirement plan for tax-deferred contributions.
Access Your Retirement Plan
For first-time users, you can find help with NetBenefits here.
On Fidelity's NetBenefits site you can:
- Access your account
- Make changes to your investments
- Find investment performance
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can participate?
The Faculty Retirement Plan is for employees with an appointment of at least nine months and at least 67% FTE (full-time equivalent) who are:
- Faculty members
- Administrative staff
- Professional staff
- Extension services
When do you join the plan?
Eligible employees will participate in the plan the first day of the first full pay period commencing after hire or transfer to an eligible appointment.
When will contributions be posted to my Fidelity account?
Contributions will be posted to your Fidelity account on pay dates.
In rare cases, contributions may be posted to Fidelity one to two days after a pay day. This may be due to holidays, system outages, or manual payroll adjustments that need to be made before the University sends the wire to Fidelity.
How much do you invest?
If you started or were rehired at the University after January 2, 2012, you contribute 5.5% of covered salary and the University contributes 10%. These are required contributions and participation is mandatory. Generally, academic employees who were eligible before that date contribute 2.5% of covered salary, while the University contributes 13%.
Covered salary includes:
- Basic appointment salary
- Administrative augmentation
- Commutation allowance
- Increment
- Regents' Professor stipend
- Nine-month appointee summer research and summer session instructional earnings
All other earnings are excluded.
Please note: any paycheck you receive after your final day working at the University will not have any contributions withdrawn.
What are the contributions limits?
Federal tax law limits combined employee and employer contributions to the plan, which are subject to cost-of-living increases. The contribution limits are based on when you joined the plan and the limit for the current year:
- Before 1996: Your contribution limit is $69,000 for 2024.
- After 1996: Your contribution limit is $53,475 for 2024 (15.5% of $345,000 maximum compensation limitation).
What is the vesting period?
All funds in the plan are fully vested, so University contributions, your contributions, and any investment earnings belong to you with no waiting period. You may not assign the benefits or borrow against them if you're a participant in the FRP.