Retirement savings plans for active employees

Retirement Plans

Gettysburg College offers a retirement program for employees who work at least 1,000 hours annually. After a two-year waiting period, the College will contribute 7% of your base salary to a retirement annuity with TIAA.

Waiving the Waiting Period:  The two-year waiting period can be waived for eligible employees who have participated in a 403(b), 401(a), or another retirement plan at a college or university within one year of their hire date and received fully vested employer contributions during that period. To qualify, you must provide the Human Resources Office with satisfactory proof of this prior participation.

New employees must submit a Documentation of Service Form to request the waiver. Please note that Gettysburg College will not retroactively reimburse contributions if this documentation is not received in a timely manner.

Supplemental Retirement Annuity: You may immediately contribute to a Supplemental Retirement Annuity (Tax-Deferred Annuity) through TIAA.  Please log into PeopleSoft self-service and use the benefits dashboard to start, stop, or update your voluntary contribution.

ROTH Option We now offer a ROTH option for current employees. This allows you to make after-tax contributions and accumulate earnings tax-free, enhancing your retirement savings. 

Casual Employees: Gettysburg College has recently updated our retirement plan to allow casual employees to contribute to a 403(b) with TIAA, provided you meet the two-year eligibility requirement. Your contributions to the plan are entirely voluntary and can be made through payroll deductions. Please contact Human Resources for the salary reduction agreement to contribute a percentage of bi-weekly pay.

Contribution Limits for 2025

  • For those under age 50: Maximum annual tax-deferred contribution is $23,500; per pay period (with 26 pay periods) is $903.84
  • For those age 50 and over: Maximum annual tax-deferred contribution is $31,000; per pay period is $1,192.30.

Retirement Plan Contribution Limits Have Increased for Employees Age 60-63

Gettysburg College already allows active employees who are age 50 or older to increase their annual employee plan contributions beyond standard IRS annual limits (known as “age-based catch-up contributions”).

Active employees ages 60-63 may now increase those contributions even more. The “super catch-up” rule applies to eligible plan participants who are between the ages of 60 and 63. The deferral limit is the greater of $5,000 or 150% of the normal “age 50” catch-up contribution limit for 2025 ($7,500). As a result, the 2025 “super catch-up” equals $11,250 (150% x $7,500). This limit will be indexed for inflation starting in 2026.

Making decisions about your retirement accounts can be challenging. We encourage you to consult with your tax professional to understand what is appropriate for you.

You can choose to contribute a flat dollar amount or a percentage of your pay. If you're not contributing the maximum amount, using a percentage (e.g., 10%) can help ensure your contributions increase with salary changes.

You can adjust your voluntary contributions at any time throughout the year by logging into PeopleSoft Self-Service on the Employee Landing page and making changes through the benefit dashboard.

Thinking of retirement information