NIU Human Resource Services (HRS) would like to share the following important retirement updates.
Social Security Fairness Act
On January 5, 2025, the Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law and will apply to Social Security benefits payable after December 2023. The Act repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) which reduced Social Security benefits for individuals who receive other benefits, such as a pension from a state or local government. By repealing these provisions, Social Security benefits for these identified groups will no longer be reduced.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is responsible for determining how this legislation will affect an individual’s financial situation. Neither NIU HRS nor the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) can provide guidance on individual financial impacts. For specific questions about this legislation, please contact the SSA directly.
The SSA is currently preparing to implement these changes and will provide more information on their website when it is available. We recommend checking their website regularly for the latest information.
SURS Money Purchase Factors
SURS has announced that the Money Purchase factors will change effective July 2, 2025. These changes are a result of a statutorily required actuarial review that takes place at least every three years. When an employee in the traditional or portable plan applies for retirement SURS calculates the projected retirement benefits utilizing all eligible calculation types and the annuity is based on the calculation that provides the employee with the highest benefit. In approximately 33% of retirements, the Money Purchase formula results in the higher annuity benefit.
As a result of these changes, SURS has indicated that individuals retiring on or after July 2, 2025, where the Money Purchase formula results in the highest retirement annuity benefit may experience the following depending on their age at retirement:
- Members who are under the age 62 will likely not see a reduction in their monthly benefit.
- Members between the ages of 62 and 70 will likely see a slight reduction in their monthly benefit of less than 1%.
- Members aged 70 and older will likely see a benefit reduction of between 1-3%. SURS estimates that members can recover this monthly reduction by delaying retirement for a couple of months.
Because the actual reduction in retirement annuity benefit utilizing the Money Purchase formula is unique to each individual, SURS encourages retirement eligible participants to use the Benefit Estimator on the SURS Member website to see if they will be impacted by the change. Employees will need to log into their personal SURS account or register online to create an account to access the Benefit Estimator.
Below are resources for employees with additional detailed information:
SURS is also hosting a webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 7, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. for members with questions regarding these upcoming changes. Advanced registration is required. Please visit the SURS website to register.
Questions regarding retirement calculations and formulas as well as assistance with the Benefits Estimator should be directed to SURS at (800) 275-7877.
Retirement Counseling
NIU Human Resource Services continues to see an increase in solicitation to members of our campus community for retirement counseling from representatives that are not affiliated with the university nor the State Universities Retirement System (SURS). When we are made aware of these attempts, HR has partnered with DoIT to have the unaffiliated emails pulled and the senders blocked. Please be advised that retirement counselors from university-approved contacts will never solicit employees for retirement counseling appointments.
To secure a retirement counseling appointment with an approved representative from SURS, or the 403(b) and/or 457(b) vendors, please follow the information provided on the HRS website. Finally, please note that when representatives from SURS come to NIU’s campus for counseling, this information will be released by NIU HRS.
Any questions on this announcement can be directed to HumanResources@niu.edu.
