A Retirement Specialist from the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) will be on campus to meet with individual staff and faculty to discuss retirement estimates on May 11 and 12, 2009, at the Holmes Student Center. To qualify for an appointment, an employee:

• Must be within 4 years of anticipated retirement.
• May not already have had an annuity estimate from SURS within the last year.

To begin the SURS process of scheduling an appointment please follow the procedures listed below:

1. Eligible employees should call SURS at (800) 275-7877 to request an appointment. SURS will send a retirement estimate request form via U.S. mail to the home address or fax. 
2. The employee must complete the estimate request form and return it to SURS.  This form asks the employee to provide:
   • Anticipated retirement dates
   • Current salary
   • Future expected annual salary increases
   • Sick and vacation accumulations - The employee must provide SURS with sick leave/vacation information on the request form if it is to be included in the projections.  SURS does not have access to employer records of sick leave and vacation accumulations.  If there are payments expected from sick leave that are included in the salary average, based on a union contract, the employee should provide the amount of the payment and the date(s) the payment will be made.
   • Other credits such as eligible purchases or reciprocal service
     
     IMPORTANT:  The accuracy of retirement annuity estimates depends on the information provided to SURS.  The actual retirement annuity may vary from the estimates provided.  Final benefit determination is pursuant to verified date and to the provisions of Chapter 40, Articles 1, 15, and 20 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes.  An estimate request is not an application for retirement.  Employees must submit a retirement application to SURS to initiate a retirement claim.
     
     
3. When the completed form is received from the employee (via U.S. mail or fax), SURS will immediately send a notice via U.S. mail that instructs the employee to contact SURS to set up their appointment.  Employees may contact SURS to set up their appointment date and time only after the completed request form is received by SURS. The deadline date to schedule an appointment with SURS is March 16, 2009.

SURS will schedule appointments on a “first-come, first-serve” basis.