Retirement

Although Gallaudet is a private institution, by an Act of Congress, the University is able to participate in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). All regular status employees are enrolled into FERS. To review more information about FERS, including how to apply for retirement from Gallaudet University, please visit our FERS webpage. This page is to provide a high-level overview of the retirement benefits at Gallaudet University.

FERS is a retirement plan that provides benefits from three sources:

• Basic Benefit Plan
  •  This defined-benefit plan provides employees with a lifetime annuity if they have at least five years of service under FERS. Employees under FERS contribute 0.8% of their salary whereas Gallaudet University contributes and additional 18.4% of their salary. Employees under FERS-RAE (hired between January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014) contribute 3.1% of their salary whereas Gallaudet University contributes an additional 16.6%. Employees covered by FERS-FRAE (hired on or after January 1, 2014) contributes 4.4% of their salary whereas Gallaudet University contributes an additional 16.6%. 
    
    
  • The Human Resources team can provide current regular status employees with an estimated monthly annuity under FERS. Please reach out to them through ServiceNow.
    
    
• Social Security 
  •  Employees and Gallaudet University each pay 6.2% of basic pay towards their Social Security up to a maximum limit. Employees and Gallaudet University also each pay 1.45% of basic pay into Medicare.
    
    
  • To obtain an estimated of your monthly retirement benefits from Social Security, please visit their website. 
    
    
• Thrift Savings Plan
  • (TSP) is a retirement savings and investment plan that is available to all Gallaudet employees. Each pay period, Gallaudet University deposits 1% of basic pay into each FERS employee’s TSP account. FERS employees can also make their own contributions and will receive matching contributions of the first 5% of pay that they contribute each pay period from Gallaudet University. TSP offers two options: Traditional (pre-tax) and Roth (after-tax). Your decision is a choice of when you pay income tax on your TSP contributions and earnings.
    
    
  • It is important to review your TSP account periodically to review your investment choices as it is one of the most important factors affecting the growth of your account. You should also review your beneficiaries through the TSP website to ensure they are updated. 
    
    
  • To obtain estimate how much monthly life annuity payments could be, please visit the TSP website to use their Annuity Calculator.