Endowed Retirement Plan

The Cornell University Retirement Plan (CURP) benefit is designed to provide retirement income to endowed employees during their retirement. Eligible Cornell employees receive a discretionary 10% contribution deposited into a 403(b) retirement plan.

The university discretionary contribution is 10% (up to $345,000 of base pay for 2024, and up to $350,000 of your base pay for 2025; overtime is not eligible for CURP contributions).

All eligible employees are fully and immediately vested in their account balance once enrolled, meaning the money is yours to keep when you separate from Cornell.

The university makes contributions each pay period, and employees may select how the contributions are allocated between Fidelity Investments and/or TIAA and the type of investment funds in which to invest.

Visit Fidelity Investments or TIAA to learn more about your investment options.

Eligibility

Endowed employees are eligible to participate in CURP based upon job position and scheduled hours of service. If eligible for CURP, a waiting period may apply:

• Exempt (salaried) - immediately upon employment
• Non-Exempt (paid hourly) - eligible after 2 years of benefits-eligible service, or immediately if there was prior participation in an employer-funded retirement plan with Fidelity Investments and/or TIAA with their employer prior to Cornell; the prior employer-funded retirement account must contain vested employer contributions.

Enrollment and Investment Management

Use Workday to select how the contributions are allocated between Fidelity Investments and/or TIAA. Failure to make an allocation selection between Fidelity Investments and TIAA will result in contributions being split evenly, 50-50, between Fidelity Investments and TIAA.

Cornell contributions made on an employee’s behalf will automatically be defaulted to target date funds, with Fidelity Investments and/or TIAA, if an employee does not make investment selections directly with Fidelity Investments and/or TIAA. Target date funds are based on an employee's date of birth and the year they turn 65.

• How to Update Your Retirement Savings in Workday

Withdrawals

An employee is eligible to withdraw from their CURP account(s) upon one of these events:

Separation from Cornell

• Retirement:  At least age 55 and at least 10 years of credited service
• Minimum Distribution: 72 and has not begun benefit distributions (mandatory).
• Death: Paid to designated beneficiary(ies)
• No longer employed by Cornell. A separated employee must work directly with Fidelity Investments and/or TIAA to take a distribution/withdrawal from their CURP account(s). Cornell University does NOT sign off on distribution/withdrawal forms.

While employed by Cornell*

• Minimum Distribution: Age 72 (optional)
• Disability: Receiving university long-term disability benefits and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits. A disability distribution is limited to one (1) distribution, up to 99% of the employee's vested account balance, per plan, per calendar year (NOT per investment provider). When on an approved long-term disability with Cornell, an employee is considered an active employee. When contacting Fidelity Investments and/or TIAA, please do not indicate a status of terminated. Please let them know your request is for a long-term disability distribution.
• Phased Retirement: Available for faculty and staff
• Loans: Not available

*To take a withdrawal while employed at Cornell, if you meet any of the above-noted criteria, you must tell Fidelity Investments and/or TIAA that you are taking an in-service distribution and which of the above criteria you fall under.  If you indicate you are terminated/separated from Cornell, your withdrawal request will be denied.  Please note that while on an approved long-term disability, you are still an active employee and will not be able to take an in-service withdrawal until the effective date of your approved long-term disability.

You may not rollover other retirement plans into CURP.

Resources

Free Individual Consultations

Fidelity Investments and TIAA representatives are available for one-on-one individual counseling appointments on campus, by phone, email and/or Zoom.  Financial representatives can educate/assist on your contributions, balances, investments, your withdrawal/payment options, or other general retirement account-related information.

Contact