Public Employees Retirement System (PERS)

The University of Alaska partners with the State of Alaska Division of Retirement and Benefits (DRB) to administer the Public Employee's Retirement System (PERS). The DRB is the plan administrator for all PERS plans. All benefit-eligible staff are required to participate in a retirement account. For information on faculty retirement plans, please review the TRS and ORP webpages. 

 

PERS Enrollment

Staff
Staff who are in a benefit-eligible position participate in PERS. There are two types of PERS plans - the Defined Benefit (DB) plan under PERS Tiers I, II, and III, and the Defined Contribution (DC) plan under PERS Tier
IV. 


Non-academic Officer / Senior Administrator
Non-academic officers or senior administrators may choose between PERS and ORP within 30 days of hire into an eligible position as long as they have never had the option to select ORP in a previous position with the university. 


Faculty
Faculty are not eligible for PERS but participate in either TRS or ORP.


Temporary
Temporary employees are not eligible to participate in PERS, TRS, ORP or the UA Pension Plan. Temporary employees can participate in a 403(b). Review our 403(b) webpage for more information.

​Retirement election paperwork is sent to employees via DocuSign. This is a one-time decision in all except rare cases.

New Employees - Irrevocable Decision - 30 days
Retirement elections are irrevocable. This means that the retirement selected cannot be changed as long as an employee is in a staff position with the university - even if they separate from the university and return as staff after a break in service. New benefit-eligible staff will be provided with their retirement election paperwork within their first 30 days of hire.


Mandatory Participation
Participation in a retirement plan is mandatory for all benefit-eligible positions. 


Reminder | The Default
If there is a choice between more than one retirement plan, the choice must be made within 30 days of hire. If no election is made, staff will automatically default into PERS.

Irrevocable Decision
Retirement elections cannot be changed except in very specific circumstances when an employee is transferring positions between certain employee classes. Depending on prior elections, an employee moving employee classes (i.e. from faculty to staff) may receive an option to change their retirement plan.


Transferring Positions - Reach out to ua-benefits@alaska.edu
If an employee is transferring positions within UA (between temporary, staff, faculty, or executive) they may be given additional retirement choices depending on their initial election. If needed, additional retirement election paperwork will be sent after the transition. For questions, please email ua-benefits@alaska.edu

Transferring Positions - Reach out to ua-benefits@alaska.edu
If a temporary employee is transferring to a benefit-eligible position, they will receive retirement depending on prior work history and elections. Email ua-benefits@alaska.edu for additional information. 

Review the options below to get an idea of staff retirement options depending on past service with the university or the State of Alaska. Official retirement selections will be sent by a member of the UA Benefits team. For questions, please email ua-benefits@alaska.edu.

Work Status Retirement Plan
I am staff and I have never worked for the University of Alaska or any State of Alaska employer before. My retirement plan will be PERS DC Tier IV with UA Pension Plan.
I am staff and I have worked for the University of Alaska before in a staff benefit-eligible position. My retirement plan will be the plan I previously selected (either ORP or PERS with or without UA Pension Plan). 
I am staff and I have worked for the University of Alaska before in a faculty benefit-eligible position.

If I previously selected ORP with my faculty position, I will be placed back in ORP.

If I previously selected TRS with my faculty position, I will be placed in PERS with our without the UA Pension Plan. 

I am staff and I have worked for a State of Alaska employer before (either faculty or staff) but this is my first staff position with the University of Alaska.

My retirement plan will be my previous PERS plan if I was a staff member. 

If I was previously faculty with another State of Alaska employer, I will move to the PERS retirement plan. 

Coverage and contributions begin on the first day of employment and end on the last day of employment or on the last day of employment in an eligible position. 
Election forms are sent via DocuSign.

 

PERS Basics

The State of Alaska Division of Retirement and Benefits (DRB) has two PERS plans - a Defined Benefit (DB) and Defined Contribution (DC). Whether an employee is in a DB or DC plan depends on the date of hire into the PERS system.

PERS Tier Dates of Eligibility
PERS DB Tier I Hired into PERS through June 30, 1986.
PERS DB Tier II Hired into the PERS from July 1, 1986 through June 30, 1996.
PERS DB Tier III Hired into PERS from July 1, 1996 through June 30, 2006.
PERS DC Tier IV Hired into PERS on or after July 1, 2006. 

PERS Tiers I, II, III (DB) 
The PERS DB plan is managed through the DRB. More information can be found on the DRB's webpage


PERS Tier IV (DC)
The PERS DC plan is managed by the DRB through Empower Retirement. Visit the Empower Retirement webpage for more information. 

PERS Tiers I, II, III (DB) 
PERS DB Tiers I - III can update beneficiaries at any time either by logging into MyRnB account, completing the Tiers I - III Beneficiary Form, or by contacting DRB directly at 1-800-821-2251.


PERS Tier IV (DC) 
PERS DC Tier IV can update beneficiaries at any time by logging into your Empower Retirement account.

 

PERS Details

PERS Tiers I, II, III (DB) 
The University of Alaska contributes a percentage of an employee's salary as determined annually by PERS and the DRB. 


PERS Tier IV (DC)
The University of Alaska contributes 5% of an employee's salary.

PERS Tiers I, II, III (DB) 6.75%*
Employee contributions are mandatory. These percentages are fixed and cannot be changed.  Regular staff in PERS DB Tier I, II or III will contribute 6.75%* of their salary through biweekly pre-tax payroll deductions. 

*Firefighters and Peace Officers in PERS DB Tier I, II, or III will contribute 7.5% of their salary through biweekly pre-tax payroll deductions. 


PERS Tier VI (DC) 8%
Employee contributions are mandatory. These percentages are fixed and cannot be changed. Regular staff will contribute 8% of their salary through biweekly pre-tax payroll deductions. 

PERS Tiers I, II, III (DB)
PERS DB Tiers I - III members are vested at five paid-up years of creditable PERS service. Once vested, employees may terminate PERS employment and still receive a monthly retirement benefit when they reach retirement age. Former employees must leave their contributions in the plan to stay vested. 


PERS Tier VI (DC)
Employees are 100% vested in the employee contributions they make to their retirement account. Employer contributions follow the 5 year vesting schedule shown below.

Years of Service Employer Vesting Percent
Less than 2 years of service 0% vested in employer contributions
2 years of service 25% vested in employer contributions
3 years of service 50% vested in employer contributions
4 years of service 75% vested in employer contributions
5+ years of service 100% vested in employer contributions

PERS Tiers I, II, III (DB)
The
PERS Tier Chart is a side by side comparison of all four PERS tiers. For more detailed information, visit  the PERS & TRS Defined Benefit Retirement Plan website and  refer to the PERS DB Handbook - Tiers I -III .


PERS Tier VI (DC)
The PERS Tier Chart is a side by side comparison of all four PERS tiers. For more detailed information, visit  the PERS & TRS Defined Contribution Retirement Plan website and  refer to the PERS DC Tier IV Handbook.

Guaranteed Income (PERS Tiers I, II, III (DB))
Defined benefits (DB) plans provide eligible employees guaranteed income for life at the time of retirement. The monthly benefit for each participant is calculated based on factors such as the employee’s salary and years of service. The PERS DB plan is managed through the DRB. More information can be found on the DRB's webpage


Market Gain/Loss Income - Empower Retirement (PERS Tier IV  (DC))
Defined contribution (DC) plans are account-based plans where the employee and employer contributions are invested into mutual funds or money market funds where they grow tax-deferred until withdrawn.  The PERS DC plan is managed by the DRB through Empower Retirement. Visit the Empower Retirement webpage for more information.  Please note UA has opted out of the DRB deferred compensation plan.

Post-tax Contributions
The Voluntary Savings Plan (VSP) is an account funded solely by the employee's post-tax, voluntary contributions. These are separate and independent of the mandatory contributions that employees are required to make to PERS.  For more information, please visit the Voluntary Savings Plan website


Contact DRB for Eligibility
To be eligible for the VSP, employees must be an active PERS Tier I, II, or III member. Contributions cannot exceed 5% of an employee's eligible salary. Employees must enroll for the VSP directly with the DRB.

UA is Not Authorized
UA is not authorized to provide financial advice to employees. Please contact the DRB directly to discuss.

Reach out to DRB
An employee who is considering retirement from PERS must reach out to DRB as soon as possible to review the retirement application process and what to expect. DRB can be reached at 1-800-821-2251. Planning and/or applying for retirement is slightly different between the Defined Benefit (DB) and Defined Contribution (DC) PERS plan.  Review the offboarding webpage for up-to-date information.

Review offboarding webpage
Employees who are separating from the university (but are not retiring) have a few different considerations for their PERS accounts depending on what type of account they have. Review the offboarding webpage for information on separating from the university. 


FORMS
 
  • Retirement forms are prepared and sent to new employees via DocuSign after attending a Benefits Overview.