Retirement Plan

The College’s 403(b) Retirement Plan is administered by TIAA.

Eligibility

Faculty and staff may participate in the plan immediately upon employment. Employees may establish a Group Supplemental Retirement Annuity. Contributions may be made on either a salary reduction (pre-tax) or salary deduction (post-tax) basis, subject to IRS limitations.

Waiting periods can be waived for both faculty and staff members with previous service at another institution of higher education, and also being enrolled in a retirement plan for at least 1 year of that service for staff, and 2 years of service for faculty.

Effective 1/1/2025, Long-Term Part-Time employees are eligible to make employee contributions to the 403(b) plan. The IRS defines Long-Term Part-Time (LTPT) Employees as:

  • at least 21 years of age and
  • have worked a minimum of 500 hours in two consecutive years.

To Enroll or Make Changes to your Contribution:

Please use your The College of Wooster credentials to sign on at TIAA/wooster.edu to enroll or make changes to your contributions. *Please note there are no more paper forms to make changes. You must log in to your account to make contribution changes. Please reach out to humanresources@Wooster.edu if you need help.

If you are a benefits eligible employee working more than 1000 annual hours you will automatically be enrolled at 5% employee contributions, or you may change your percentage or waive contributions on the Wooster TIAA website below.

TIAA Enhanced Plan Focus Help

Previous Benefits Waiver:

Provide this letter for completion and signature by your previous employer in higher education for possible waiver of waiting periods for some benefits, including retirement contributions. Staff and faculty who previously worked at an institution of higher education are eligible for this waiver.

Be sure to sign the authorization before sending, and completed forms can be sent to benefits@wooster.edu

TIAA Financial Counseling Scheduling:

Schedule an appointment with TIAA via single-sign-on:


To make an appointment:

Please use your The College of Wooster credentials to sign on at TIAA/wooster.edu  to enroll or make changes to your contributions.

– Click on “Plan & Learn”

– Select “Talk with Advisor”

– Complete form based on whether you want an in-person or virtual meeting

TIAA Virtual Financial Counseling Scheduling Information:



– Visit www.tiaa.org/schedulenow

– Select “Schedule” under “Virtual Consultation

– Login with your TIAA credentials

– Select “College of Wooster” as your institution

– Select a date/time and confirm your meeting.

TIAA In-Person, On-Campus Appointment Scheduling:



– Visit www.tiaa.org/schedulenow

– Select “Schedule” under “Your Employer”

– Select “Ohio” and “The College of Wooster”

– Select a date/time and confirm your meeting.

Additional Information



Schedule an appointment with TIAA:  To discuss your plan and options for managing your retirement savings or to schedule an appointment with a TIAA Individual Consultant, please call TIAA at: 800-732-8353, Monday – Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (ET) or visit www.tiaa.org/schedulenow

Webinars

TIAA App

TIAA Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA)

IRAs come in two flavors: traditional and Roth. There are two fundamental differences between them: whether you pay taxes before contributing (Roth) or after withdrawing funds (traditional) and when you need to withdraw funds from these accounts. You contribute to these plans through your personal bank account. To learn more please visit TIAA.

CBIZ Retirement Newsletter Retirement Matters

Retirement Matters is a quarterly newsletter provided by CBIZ, through partnership with TIAA, that is intended to provide relevant market information and retirement plan strategies.

To access the Retirement Matters newsletter, visit wealthmanagement.cbiz.com/insights. In addition to the retirement planning newsletter, there are articles, videos, and other content published to the CBIZ insights page.

Each issue includes:

  • Retirement, investment and/or wellbeing topics
  • Helpful examples and real-world scenarios
  • Retirement and investment tips and resources
  • Contact information for additional retirement plan support

TIAA Resources:

TIAA Customer Service Number 1-800-842-2252 Register for your online account by going to https://auth.tiaa.org/public/authentication/enroll#/email. It’s an easy and secure way to view balances, manage investments, get advice and more. You need to be enrolled in a retirement plan or have a TIAA account to register.

Plan Documents: