UC Retirement Plan Under Threat

“I think a large issue with that 2015 deal is that the university negotiated a permanent change in the pension system in exchange for a short-term commitment from the state,” observed Dr, Michael Meranze, a UCLA history professor who also blogs about UC faculty issues. “Whereas the state, for instance, makes annual contributions, say, to [California State University’s] pension and to other state employee pensions. … The state has never formally admitted that it benefited from those years of non-contribution, nor [has it] formally committed to restarting its contributions on a regular basis.” The point is more than academic, explained Celeste Langan, co-chair of the UC Berkeley Faculty Association. Part of the lure of a lower-paying public research university for scholars, who have already delayed entering the job market for as much as decade to get a PhD (along with a mountain of student loan debt), is precisely the robust retirement security offered by its pensions compared to 401(k)s at private universities.

Read full article [here].
by Bill Raden, Capital and Main.

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