Retirement

At the University of Nebraska, we have three retirement plans: 
Basic Retirement Plan 401(a) Supplemental Retirement Plan 403(b) Deferred Compensation Plan 457(b)

Basic Retirement 401(a)

Plan Qualifications

To participate, an employee must meet the following requirements: 

  • Age 26 years or older
  • Employed in a regular position at 50% FTE or greater
  • Completed two years of qualified service with an educational institution ;whose primary purpose or activity provided a formalized program of education. Undergraduate student, work-study, on-call, fellowships and internships do not qualify. Previous eligible University of Nebraska service would also apply. It is imperative that you turn in a Record of Prior Service Form if you have ANY work experience from an educational institution that might help you qualify for the 401(a) Retirement Savings Account.

Record of Prior Service for Basic Retirement Plan 401(a) Application

Basic Retirement Plan 401(a) Tier Election Form

Semi-annual enrollment periods

February 1 and September 1. If you have no previous educational service, you will be able to participate in the 401(a) Plan on the first semi-annual enrollment date after completing your two years of service. 

Supplemental Retirement 403(b) Plan

This plan may be started by an eligible employee at any time. On-call, student workers and graduate students are not eligible. The 403(b) plan is the only one of our three retirement plans that has the option of a post-tax (Roth) contribution.

Deferred Compensation 457(b) Plan

Employees may participate in the Deferred Compensation Retirement 457(b) Plan for the purpose of supplementing Basic Retirement 401(a) Plan contributions.

Retirement Plan Loans

Participants may borrow Basic Retirement 401(a) Plan funds via loan from Fidelity Investments or TIAA. Loans will be authorized only for the eviction and foreclosure of a primary residence. You may have only one Basic Retirement 401(a) loan at a time. Minimum loan amount is $1,000. To request a loan, submit the basic Retirement 401(a) Plan Loan Application and documentation to support the loan request (eviction or foreclosure notice) to your Campus Benefits Office. 

Participants may borrow Supplemental Retirement 403(b) Plan funds via loan from Fidelity Investments or TIAA. The minimum loan amount from the 403(b) plan is $1,000 and cannot exceed greater than one-half the combined Fidelity and TIAA 403(b) plan account balance. To request a loan, employees should submit the Supplemental Retirement 403(b) Plan Loan Application to the Campus Benefits Office.

info All of this information can be found at the University of Nebraska Benefits website.

Plan for Your Retirement:

2022 Annual Limits

The IRS annual limit on elective salary deferrals for the 403(b) plan and the 457(b) plan retirement plans is $20,500 in 2022 ($19,500 in 2020 and 2021) for those under the age of 50. Employees who are age 50 or over at the end of the calendar year can also make catch-up contributions of $6,500 in 2022, in 2020 and 2021 ($6,000 in 2015 - 2019) beyond the basic limit on elective deferrals.

In order to participate in the 457(b) plan, a faculty or staff member must be on target to max out their 403(b) plan for the year.