Pierce College District Employee Retirement Benefits

Here in Washington, there are a couple of state-administered public retirement systems for state employees. These systems serve more than 750,000 current and former public employees, including teachers, judges, officers and firefighters and more.

Benefit packages for classified, administrative exempt, and full-time faculty positions include:

  • Retirement plans
  • Optional SRA tax annuities (minimum of $50 contribution per month)
  • Optional deferred compensation plan (DCP - minimum of $30 contribution per month)

Retirement Plans

  • Public Employees Retirement System (PERS I, II, III) — classified/civil service positions are eligible to participate.
  • Teacher's Retirement System (TRS I, II, III) — available for those who have been enrolled and vested in the past.
  • TIAA-CREF — full-time faculty and administrative/exempt positions are eligible to participate.

Benefits for Part-Time Faculty

A part-time faculty member becomes eligible for benefits at the beginning of the second consecutive quarter of half-time or more employment at one or more Washington state institutions of higher education. Spring and fall quarters are considered consecutive quarters for benefits eligibility. Half time is determined based on each institution's definition of full time.

A part-time faculty member must qualify each quarter they teach, to maintain eligibility. Once eligible, part-time faculty will be notified of their benefit and retirement options.

For more details about retirement benefits, see the Enrollment Information page.