IU Retirement Funds and Vesting
For most full-time faculty, IU contributes 10% of one's base salary to a retirement account. This percentage has varied over the years. For more details see this page.
Base salary does not include administrative stipends, overloads, or summer teaching or research payments for 10-month faculty. It does include all of one's compensation (unified) as a 12-month administrator even when part of that compensation is for administrative duties (more details here). Base salary pertains only to IU funds, not to practice plans for dually-employed IU/IU Health health care providers or extra pay for dental practice.
There is a three year vesting period. Anyone who leaves prior to the three years loses the IU contributions (and any earnings from them).
- For 10-month faculty, three years means three academic years; if they work until May 31st of their third year, they are then vested.
- Work in a visiting position counts and that time would accumulate towards the three year requirement if someone accepts a regular position.
- Work as a postdoc counts if it is as an AC1/RSP employee, but
not if it is a FLP/fellowship appointee.
- Please contact Office of Academic Affairs at ude[dot]ui[at]rhdaca if someone is moving from AC1 to FLP (and back) – there may be options to preserve vesting.
- Anyone who leaves and then returns within six months has their accumulating balances restored and would continue to accumulate service towards the three year rule.
Please note that IU limits visiting positions to two years, and IU Indianapolis strongly encourages very limited use of this category. A third year is very very rare, would require campus approval, and would need exceptional justification.
For more rules, visit IU Benefits webpage. Faculty can contact their school HR staff to determine length of service.
Reviewed and revised: 7/2023.