Retirement FAQs

If you qualify for an appointment, you may request an appointment one of two ways:

• Complete the online estimate request form from the SURS Member homepage under “Retirement Counseling”, or
• Call SURS at 800.275.7877 and request the form be mailed to you
• Once you complete and submit the form to SURS either online from the SURS Member homepage, by fax, or mail, you may then call SURS to schedule the appointment.

Members who are within five years of retirement can schedule a private appointment with a SURS Retirement Counselor. These meetings are 45 minutes in length and are specific to the member’s personal SURS history. Retirement amounts, death and survivor benefits, insurance, and many other topics are reviewed. Members are limited to one counseling session or written estimate every 12 months.

Counseling appointments are typically held in the SURS offices in Champaign and Naperville, virtually or by telephone. SURS also periodically visits individual campuses. Log into the SURS Member Website to schedule an appointment, or call SURS at 800-275-7877 to obtain an estimate request form.

SURS typically schedules appointments at least 2 months in advance.  In addition, we also recommend you submit your retirement application at least 60 days prior to your retirement date.  Therefore, if you would like to have an appointment before you submit your retirement application we encourage you to contact SURS 4-6 months before you retire.

Your counselor will discuss many things during your counseling appointment including but not limited to the following:

• Review current account information
• Estimated benefit amounts
• Insurance, if applicable
• Purchases, if applicable
• Death and survivor benefits payable upon your death
• Application process
• What to expect after retirement such as taxes, automatic annual increases, and return-to-work limitations
• Discuss the importance of supplemental savings and the SURS Deferred Compensation Plan (DCP)

SURS offers four types of appointments:

• Office appointments at our Champaign or Naperville offices,
• Phone appointments
• Virtual appointments, or
• Campus appointments, upon your employer’s request

You are not required to bring anything with you to the appointment; however, SURS suggests the following:

• Pen and paper to make notes
• A list of any specific questions you want to ask the counselor
• Verifications – birth, marriage, etc.

Yes, SURS recognizes that planning for retirement can be overwhelming and your benefit not only affects you, but also your family.  For these reasons, many members prefer to bring their partner and/or financial planner to the SURS retirement counseling appointment.

There may or may not be specific dates that will be better than others for the retirement benefit.  It will depend on many things including eligibility, formula calculations, age, contract dates, etc.  SURS does not pay partial months of benefits, so we normally will prepare your estimates for the first of a month.  Please contact SURS at 800-275-7877 for more information specific to your account.

If your retirement date is within 60 days and you have not already had an appointment within the last 12 months, SURS will try to fit you in within the next week or two.  Please call SURS at 800-275-7877.

Don’t you already have that information? In order to accurately calculate your anticipated retirement benefits SURS will need to know your projected salary, unused/unpaid sick leave, and unused vacation These benefits are provided by your employer and SURS does not have access to this information. SURS does receive verification from your employer on your sick leave and vacation balances after you terminate your employment. If you are unsure of your current salary rate, unused/unpaid sick leave balance, or vacation balance, please contact your benefits office.

If you have terminated your employment and are no longer contributing to SURS you are allowed to have one counseling appointment every 12 months as long as you are eligible to begin your retirement within the next five years. You will not need to complete a request to schedule this appointment. Simply call SURS at 800.275-7877 to request an appointment.

If you do not want a counseling appointment you may request that SURS send you a written estimate. Written estimates, like counseling appointments, are limited to one request per 12 months. Members may receive one or the other, not both.

Estimates prepared for a phone appointment will be available on your member homepage at least 24 hours in advance of your scheduled appointment, if requested. SURS will also mail a copy to your home address after your scheduled appointment. If you have reciprocal estimates, they will not be available online, but mailed to your home address following your scheduled appointment.

Traditional and Portable Plan monthly annuities:

After retirement, you may return to work with a SURS-covered employer after you have been retired for at least 60 calendar days. There is no waiting period if you return to employment with an employer who is not covered by SURS.

Portable Plan Lump-Sum Annuities:

You may not return to work for a SURS-covered employer until 60 days following the date your benefit is issued.

If your return to SURS-covered employment is after the 60-day period mentioned above, you have the following choices:

1. If you wish to return to participation and earn additional benefits, you must complete the Election to Participate During Re-employment Following Receipt of a Lump-Sum Retirement Benefit form.
2. If you do not elect to participate, no SURS contributions will be withheld. In addition, you should contact your Benefits Office to determine your health insurance eligibility as a non-contributing SURS member.

Retirement Savings Plan (RSP):

If you take a retirement distribution (lifetime income or vested lump-sum) and return to work, there is no waiting period or earnings limitation. However, you will not be able to contribute to SURS and you may not be eligible for health insurance as an active employee.

This can vary considerably but on average you can expect your claim to be finalized within two to three months. There are several factors that may impact your claim: 

• Application errors. 
• The length of time it takes your employer to complete a termination report and send their final payroll to SURS. 
• Payroll reconciliation at SURS. 
• Transferring of funds between RSP providers (if applicable).
• Reciprocal claims may take longer to process. 

If you return to work under a SURS-covered employer; Traditional and Portable retirees are subject to an earnings limitation.

Traditional and Portable Plan monthly annuities:

• If your annuity payments began before you were age 60, your gross monthly earnings may not exceed your base monthly gross annuity.
• If your annuity payments began at age 60 or later, your earnings during any academic year, combined with your annual base annuity from SURS, cannot exceed your highest earnings during any academic year before you retired.

If your first participation began prior to January 1, 2011, there is no limitation on your post-retirement earnings if you return to work with an employer who is not covered by SURS.

If your first participation began on or after January 1, 2011, there is no limitation on your post-retirement earnings if you return to work with an employer who is not covered by SURS; however, if you begin full-time covered employment with an eligible retirement system covered under the Illinois Retirement Systems Reciprocal Act, SURS may be required to suspend your annuity during that employment.

Portable Lump-Sum annuities:

There is no earnings limitation for members that received a lump-sum retirement benefit.

Retirement Savings Plan (RSP):

If you take a retirement distribution (lifetime income or vested lump-sum) and return to work, there is no waiting period or earnings limitation. However, you will not be able to contribute to SURS and you may not be eligible for health insurance as an active employee. 

Since all annuity benefit payments are made on the first of the month, it is recommended that you select the first day of the month in the month in which you desire your benefit to begin.

In an effort to pay you in a timely manner while we collect information needed to calculate your final annuity, SURS issues a PEP on the effective date of your retirement or within 30 days of the receipt of your application, whichever is later. A PEP is approximately 80-90 percent of what SURS projects your final amount to be and is not the same amount as the estimate you may have had calculated by a Member Service Representative. You will continue to receive these estimated payments while your claim is being processed. Preliminary estimated payments do not include the following:

• Current year earnings and/or vacation payments
• Reciprocal credits
• Additional credit for unused, unpaid sick leave
• Additional service credit purchased after your Application for Retirement annuity is received

If you are in the Traditional or Portable Pension plans, log into your SURS Secure Member Website account and complete the change form.

If you are wanting to change the financial institution where your monthly annuity is deposited as an RSP member, you will need to complete a change form for that specific provider. 

There are 13 public retirement systems in Illinois covered under the Illinois Retirement Systems Reciprocal Act. If you have at least one year of pension credit in more than one of the retirement systems and your combined service credits are equal to the longest minimum service requirements of any of the systems in which you have credit, you may be eligible to apply for a benefit under the Illinois Retirement Systems Reciprocal Act.

For further information on retiring under this Act, click here.

If participation first began prior to January 1, 2011:

• Age 55 with 8 or more years of service, with applicable age reduction
• Age 62 with 5 or more years of service
• Any age with 30 or more years of service*

  *Not applicable if employment termination prior to August 2, 2002

If participation first began on or after January 1, 2011:

• At age 62 with 10 or more years of service, with applicable age reduction
• At age 67 with 10 or more years of service

Normal processing time is 6 months or longer.

For Traditional or Portable Plan retirements:

Retirement claims are finished on a first in, first out basis. To view the status of your claim, visit the SURS Member website.

For Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) retirements:

You may contact a SURS Member Service Representative at 800-275-7877.

SURS will need a photocopy of your birth certificate if you have not already submitted one. In addition, if you are married, SURS will need a photocopy of your spouse’s birth certificate and your marriage certificate.

Your pension benefits are subject to taxation by the Internal Revenue Service for federal income tax purposes. Under current law, your pension benefits are not subject to income tax by the state of Illinois. Should you relocate to another state, you should check with that state on the taxation of your pension benefit.

If you retire within 60 days after you terminate your employment covered by SURS or one of the other systems subject to the Illinois Retirement Systems Reciprocal Act, your unused/unpaid sick leave will be converted to additional service credit, up to a maximum of 1.0 year.

The conversion for unused, unpaid sick leave is as follows:

If you first began participation prior to January 1, 2011:

Each January 1st, your retirement annuity will automatically receive a 3% compounded increase. The first increase will begin on the January 1st following the month in which you retire and will be prorated for the number of months you were retired.

If you first began participation on or after January 1, 2011:

A non-compounding annual increase will apply to the monthly retirement annuity beginning on the January 1 occurring on or after the later of your attainment of age 67 or the 1st anniversary of the commencement of your annuity. The annual increases will be the lesser of 1/2 of the Consumer Price Index – Urban (CPI-U) from the preceding year or 3%, computed on the original retirement annuity amount. If for any year the CPI-U decreases or is zero, no annual increase will apply.

There are three primary calculations used when member retires under the Traditional or Portable plan:

1. General Formula
2. Money Purchase Calculation (not available to participants hired on or after July 1, 2005)
3. Minimum Annuity

In addition, there is a special formula calculation for Police/Firefighters and a Supplemental Minimum Annuity Guarantee.

For further information on the formula calculations, please refer to the Traditional or Portable member guide.

The FAE is used under some calculations to determine a member’s retirement annuity and maximum annuity payable.

If participation first began prior to January 1, 2011:

The FAE is determined by comparing: (a) the average of the four highest-paid consecutive academic years of employment, and (b) the average of the last 48 months of employment (if applicable), using whichever is higher.

If participation first began on or after January 1, 2011:

The FAE is determined by comparing: (a) the average of the eight highest-paid consecutive academic years during the last 10 years of employment, and (b) the average of the highest 96 consecutive months during the last 120 months of employment (if applicable), using whichever is higher.

Your employer is responsible for payment of vacation and/or sick leave that you may be entitled to. Any questions regarding this should be directed to your employer.

The percentage of service will not affect your accumulation of service credit for qualification of benefits or vesting. However, when your benefit is calculated, if you have more than three years at 50% time or less, your service credit and benefits may be reduced.

A reversionary annuity provides your spouse or other dependent beneficiary with a monthly income in addition to what is payable as a survivor benefit. In order to provide this benefit to your spouse or other dependent beneficiary, you will receive a reduced annuity. The Election of Reversionary Annuity form must be on file with SURS at least 30 days prior to your effective date of retirement.

• Your spouse, if married at least one year prior to your death
• An unmarried, dependent child under the age of 18
• An unmarried, full-time student under the age of 22
• A disabled child, if permanently disabled prior to the age of 18
• A dependent parent, age 55 and older who is claimed as a dependent on your tax return

If you first began participation prior to January 1, 2011:

Each January 1^st, the survivor annuity will automatically receive an increase of 3% compounded annually. 

If you first began participation on or after January 1, 2011:

If you are in the Traditional Pension Plan, the survivor annuity will receive a non-compounding increase of the lesser of 3% or ½ of the change of the Consumer Price Index-Urban (CPI-U) from the preceding year. 

If you are in the Portable Pension Plan, the joint and survivor annuity will receive an increase of 3% compounded annually.

Please refer to the Normal and Optional forms of annuity section of the Portable member guide.

Coverage will be effective on your annuity begin date unless you have filed your application late. Your insurance cards will likely arrive a few weeks after your annuity begin date. 

SURS benefit recipients may be eligible to participate in the State of Illinois Employee Group Insurance Program (SEGIP) or the College Insurance Program (CIP).

To be eligible for the SEGIP, members in the Traditional and Portable plans must have at least five years (Tier I) or ten years (Tier II) of service credit with a SURS-covered university or state agency and elect to receive a monthly annuity. Members in the Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) are considered Tier I and must have at least five years of state service to be eligible at retirement if they elect to annuitize. Community colleges are not state agencies. For each year of service credit, the state of Illinois will pay 5% of your insurance premium in retirement. With 20 years, the member insurance is premium-free.

To be eligible for the CIP, you must have been a full-time employee of any SURS-participating community college and eligible for benefits at that employer. City Colleges of Chicago do not participate in the CIP. CIP insurance premiums are set amounts that may adjust annually. Read more about health insurance eligibility here.