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  • The average monthly retirement benefit of a SURS annuitant is $2,830 (FY 2010). There are some eye-catching pensions being reported in the media and in pension-reform-advocacy, BUT it is inaccurate and inappropriate to generalize about general and average pensions based on these outliers.

  • 64% of benefit recipients receive $2,600 or less per month (FY 2010)

  • Most SURS benefit recipients receive no or reduced Social Security benefits.  Since the state chose not to contribute to Social Security for SURS members, 78% of SURS members do not receive Social Security benefits.  The 22% of SURS members who receive Social Security as a result of other employment, receive a reduced benefit because of their participation in SURS.

  • Many SURS retirees do not qualify for Medicare.  (those employed prior to April, 1986)

  • The state is liable for an estimated $84 billion to the pension systems

  • The cost to taxpayers of state-funded pension benefits is less than the private sector, and less than public pensions in neighboring states (Illinois Pension Modernization Task Force, 2009)

  • “Pension Holiday” is an euphemism for skipping the state’s required annual payment to the pension systems that only exacerbates the Illinois financial crisis

  • College employees have never missed their required payments to SURS.  Over the 10 year period 1998-2008, SURS members contributed $2.64 billion to SURS, as required by law.  Over the same period, the State contribution to SURS was $1.32 billion less than the amount required by law.

  • College employees contribute 8% of their income to SURS, 29% more than FICA.  FICA is 6.2 %.

  • Community College retirees pay all or a substantial portion of their health insurance premiums.

  • The current unfunded pension liability is not a result of the lavishness of retiree pensions, which are about average when compared to 85 other public employee retirement systems, nor is it a result of the failure of public employees to make their mandated contributions.  It results from the State’s decades-long failure to make its full employer contribution to the system as required by law.  Illinois lawmakers and Governors have repeatedly balanced the state budget by using required contributions to compensate for budget shortfalls in other areas.

  • There are more than 196,000 retirees in the State University Retirement System (SURS), the Teacher Retirement System (TRS), the State Employee Retirement System (SERS), the Judicial Retirement System (JRS), and the General Assembly Retirement System (GARS).

  • Pensions paid to retirees in the above systems that live in Illinois amount to over $4 billion.

  • The economic benefit of those pensions is approximately $1.50 for each pension dollar, or $6 billion.  This means pension dollars are a very important part of the Illinois economy, statewide and regionally.

Facts About State Universities Annuitants Association

SUAA, founded in 1971 as a voluntary membership association, continues its vigilance to preserve and protect the pension system, the healthcare plans and all other benefits provided for the well-being of the 208,000 State Universities Retirement System (SURS) participants and beneficiaries.

SUAA is the only advocacy organization that focuses solely on preserving pension and healthcare benefits for the public universities’ and community colleges’ employees - both active and retirees - their spouses and survivors and SURS members who live out of state.Currently there are three

SUAA lobbyist, Dick Lockhart, Linda Brookhart, and John Carr.