Higher Ed Scales Back Retirement Plan Options

(from CUPA HR) The percentage of colleges and universities using more than one retirement service provider has decreased markedly in recent years, from nearly half in 2014 to only a third in 2018, according to CUPA's 2018 Paid Time Off, Tuition and Retirement Benefits for Higher Education Survey. Increasingly complex reporting and recordkeeping requirements around retirement benefits are factors behind the downward trend, as are lawsuits heightening awareness of employers' fiduciary responsibilities. The most common plan type for both private and public institutions is the 403(b); traditional defined benefit plans and 457(b) plans are more commonly seen in public universities.

Other survey findings:

• More than nine out of 10 institutions have separate vacation and sick time plans rather than a combined paid time-off plan.
• Only about a quarter of institutions offer paid leave for new parents, above and beyond sick and vacation leave. 
• Nearly all (98%) institutions offer tuition benefits to full-time employees, and more than 80 percent offer tuition benefits to spouses and children of employees.
• There has been a large overall decline in the percentage of institutions offering tuition benefits for both same-sex partners and opposite-sex domestic partners from 2016 to 2018.

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