CUNY Adjuncts can join the TRS NYC Qualified Pension Plan (QPP) voluntarily provided it makes sense to be a part of this pension plan. Adjuncts need to determine if they will join the TRS QPP and if they will buy back the service (time worked with CUNY or any public NY State entity prior to becoming a TRS member).
You have to become a TRS member first and then you can start the process of buying back the service you have had with CUNY/Public entities since you started as an Adjunct. You can only buy back service two years after becoming a TRS NYC member.
If you enroll with TRS, you would be joining TIER VI and vesting with TIER VI is five years of credited service (changed from 10 to 5 years with Chapter 56 of the laws of 2022 effective 4/1/2022), therefore, you are not able to file for a pension with TRS (retirement) until you have attained 5 years of credited service and be over age 55 (a pension under age 63 and with less than 30 years of credited service will have reductions for life and based on the age at retirement). If you do not vest and you leave CUNY, you will have access to your contributions plus interest (cash or rollover to an IRA) once you are not active with CUNY.
The time you work for CUNY as an Adjunct translates differently to Full-Time service per TRS. See below to determine how much time you are credited based on the hours worked (this is the work TRS does when you are in process of buying back your service – two years after becoming a member-) TRS will seek the service records from the college(s) where you have worked since hired in CUNY. Then TRS writes you a cost letter indicating the cost, how much you will be able to buy back and the deadline to pay that. Therefore, attaining 5 years of credited service for an Adjunct may take twice the time to achieve.
According to TRS for an Adjunct
360 paid adjunct hours = 1 year of credited service (the maximum you will get in one year)
240 paid adjunct hours = 8 months of credited service
180 paid adjunct hours = 6 months of credited service
90 paid adjunct hours = 3 months of credited service
60 paid adjunct hours = 2 months of credited service
45 paid adjunct hours = a month and a half of credited service
Once you are a TRS member for two years, contact TRS and request/complete a Buy Back application. TRS will seek your employment records for the colleges listed. Once they work on the records received, TRS will send you a cost letter. The letter specifies what you are able to buy (in years), the cost and the deadline to pay the money or ways you can pay.
* If you want to buy back prior service you may do so two calendar years after your initial enrollment, at the percentage of your earnings during that service plus percentage interest compounded annually. A member can also purchase prior service credit if he or she has less than 2 years of membership service to save on the interest that accumulates on the cost of prior service. The prior service will be posted to the member’s account once he or she reaches 2 years of membership service.
Follow the link below to enroll online (please make sure you are enrolling in the QPP). Make sure you look at your paystubs to verify the mandatory contributions are being deducted. Also, if you begin work at any other CUNY college and you are a part of the TRS QPP, please go to HR and make sure you provide your QPP number and contribute through that college as well. When you enroll in the QPP, there is a two-step process. You complete the information online, then TRS will contact your HR office to obtain a letter that confirms you are active with that college. Once TRS receives the letter from HR, they will finish the enrollment in the QPP.
The Buy Back Process (Detailed Process Information with TRS)
You need to request a service record from your campus HR office. If you have worked on more than one CUNY campus, you must request a separate record from the HR office of each school where you have worked. These records should include, on a semester-by-semester basis, the number of hours you worked each term, your hourly pay rate each term, your title each term and the dates of each term. The records need to be on official school letterhead and must be signed by someone in the HR office.
Prior service with the New York City or State public schools or with any other NYC or NYS agency may also count for pension credit. If you have prior service outside of CUNY, please contact TRS to request Cost Letter Request Form SB64. You will complete that form, return it to TRS and then TRS will seek the service records from the employers you list on that form. TRS will then work on creating a cost letter telling you if you have prior service to buy back, how much time, the cost, how to pay this and the deadline to pay for this.
The cost of the buyback for TRS Tier VI members is 6% of everything you have earned before you joined TRS, plus 5% interest compounded annually. TRS considers 360 adjunct hours to be equivalent to one year of credited service. You cannot get more than one year of service in any September-August period; therefore, if you worked more than 360 adjunct hours in an academic year, you will still get 12 months of credit for that service
Once TRS receives service records from HR Department at the various campuses, a TRS employee will calculate exactly how much you owe and send you a bill. Please make sure that you keep copies for yourself (the service records).
One good way to save for a buyback is a tax-deferred annuity (TDA) through CUNY payroll deduction. A TDA provides you a way to put money away through payroll deductions while lowering your taxes substantially at the same time. All TRS members can open either a TDA with TRS itself or with TIAA-CREF, or the New York State Deferred Compensation Plan. Money in any of these accounts can be rolled over to pay for a TRS buyback.
If you already have a TDA but do not have enough money for the buyback, you should consider increasing your contribution rate. And if you do not have a TDA but would like to use one to save up for the buyback, you will need to open an account. A TDA with TRS can be opened on the TRS website. To open one with TIAA-CREF, or the NYS Deferred Compensation Plan, you will need to get forms from your campus HR office.
Funds from other tax-deferred annuities or IRAs cannot be rolled over to pay for a TRS buyback. Only contributions made through CUNY payroll deduction can be used for this purpose.
When someone at TRS calculates the exact amount of your buyback, he or she will also calculate what is called a service deficit. This is money you owe for service rendered after you officially became a TRS member. Usually there is a gap of three to six weeks between the date TRS membership begins and the date that the first TRS payroll deduction occurs. Adjuncts who work on two campuses but have only had payroll deductions on one campus will also have a service deficit because they did not contribute on the second campus.
Service deficits cannot be paid for with TDA rollovers. You will need to pay by check in a lump sum or get on a payment plan through payroll.
Once a buy back has been completed, years of service will be credited to your TRS Qualified Pension Plan (QPP). TRS does not credit buy backs before a member’s second consecutive year being in the system, although you can still initiate a buy back beforehand.
