Faculty Retirement Planning Program
In This Guide
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Faculty Retirement Planning Program, you must qualify for one of the retiree classifications detail here and in the Retirement Benefits policy. You should determine your retiree status prior to determining your retirement pathway.
Current Retirement Pathways
Plan B One Year Contract (Retiring in May 2026)
Plan B is for faculty members who provide one year's academic notice of their intent to retire. The deadline for faculty members to opt into this plan is November 15, 2024.
Contract Terms
- Under the Plan B pathway, you will receive a 3.25% merit pay increase during the final academic year of service, providing the annual performance review is "effective" or better.
- During the last academic year, you will not be required to participate in University committees, but you may choose to continue serving. If you are on a departmental and school/college committee that is deemed essential by the Dean or department chair, you may still be required to participate.
- A retirement planning award of $7,500 is payable within 45 days of signing a retirement contract.
- During the last academic semester, a 50% reduction of workload is offered, with pay still at the full contract amount. If you accept this reduction in workload, you will work with the dean or department chair to determine the workload distribution of teaching, research, and other activities.
Plan C Two Year Contract (Retiring in May 2027)
Plan C is for faculty who give a two academic year notice of their intent to retire. The deadline for faculty members to opt into this plan is November 15, 2024.
Contract Terms
- Under the Plan C pathway, you will receive a 3.25% merit pay increase for each of the final two academic years, providing the annual performance review is "effective" or better.
- A retirement planning award of $7,500 is payable within 45 days of signing a retirement contract.
- During the last academic year, you will not be required to participate in University committees, but you may choose to continue serving. If you are on a departmental and school/college committee that is deemed essential by the Dean or department chair, you may still be required to participate.
- A retirement planning award of $7,500 is payable within 45 days of signing a memorandum of understanding and retirement contract (January or February).
- In the final spring semester, you are offered a retirement transition sabbatical (2 quarters), or a 50% reduction of workload during the full last contract year. In each case, pay is still at the full contractual amount. If you accept this reduction in workload, you will work with the dean or department chair to determine the workload distribution of teaching, research, and other activities.
Process
- FACULTY INITIATION: Faculty member should discuss their intent to retire with their department chair and/or Dean. Then the faculty member requests retirement by submitting the Faculty Retirement Program Interest Form by November 15, 2024. Please note, late submissions or requests for retirement dates outside of those indicated on the form will not be approved as part of the program.
- ELIGIBILITY CONFIRMED: HR will verify that each faculty member that requested retirement is age 55 or older and has completed at least 5 consecutive years of service at Baylor.
- RETIREMENT CONTRACT: HR will generate a retirement contract (letter of appointment) and email to approved faculty member in December 2024.
- Elements outside of the program requested by the Faculty member should be reviewed with the Chair/School and will not be included in the retirement contract.
- The faculty member will have 45 days to review the contract and return to HR via email. If faculty member does not return the signed contract within 45 days the faculty member will no longer be eligible for the program.
- When the signed contract is returned to HR, the one-time payment of $7,500 will be processed by February.
- Until a contract is signed, faculty are not committed to the program and there are no impacts to employment status.
- AFTER CONTRACT SIGNATURE:
- Faculty member to receive annual 3.25% merit increase. Annual contracts and pay change statements will not continue. The retirement contract will be the last contract the faculty member will receive from Baylor.
- Faculty member invited to Retirement Planning info sessions hosted by HR. These sessions are held virtually and share additional resources.
- Faculty member will receive standard exit information from HR a few weeks prior to exit date.
- The Office of the Provost will provide boxes in which retiring faculty may pack books and other items when vacating their offices. Each retiring faculty member should work with his or her department to create a work order to obtain carts and assistance to move belongings from their office to the faculty member’s vehicle.
- Enroll in and attend an Understanding Post Retirement Benefits information session.
For additional questions, faculty members should consult with their Business Officer, Provost Office, or reach out to askHR@baylor.edu.
Additionally, financial planning resources are available through Captrust.
FAQs
It was launched in 2016-2017. The purpose was to encourage eligible faculty who had been contemplating retirement to commit to a one—or two-year retirement timeline, thereby helping faculty and units with short-term planning. The program was meant to run for a short window of three years and perhaps be re-introduced periodically.
The initial announcement indicated that the program would last through 2019-2020. Largely due to the pandemic interruption, an addendum extended it for three more years with a planned end date in 2023, at which time a review for possible renewal would be conducted. The program ran unchanged during that review in 2023-24.
Our intention was always to use this program temporarily; it was not designed as a permanent aspect of the faculty retirement process. Concluding it now does not preclude using a similar program on a temporary basis again in the future.
November 15, 2024 is the last day to sign up for Plan B (retiring in May ’26) or Plan C (retiring in May ’27).
The full benefits and conditions can be found online here but the summary points are:
• Merit pay increase of 3.25% for the final academic year.
• A retirement planning award of $7,500.
• Release from required participation on University committees in the final academic year,
• A 50% reduction in workload during the Spring semester of 2026.
The full benefits and conditions can be found online here but the summary points are:
• Merit pay increase of 3.25% for each the final academic years.
• A retirement planning award of $7,500.
• Release from required participation on University committees in the final academic year.
• A retirement transition sabbatical in the Spring 2027 or a 50% reduction in workload during 2026-2027.
Submit a letter to your department chair or dean no later than November 15 indicating your plan choice and date of retirement; if choosing Plan C, please also indicate a preference for the reduced workload in the final academic year or a transitional sabbatical in the final semester. Based on this request, a contract will be prepared for you to sign.
No. The last date to enter into either the one- or two-year planning is November 15, 2024.
Agreeing to the Faculty Retirement Planning Program involves signing a contract which is binding. In normal circumstances, revocation is not possible.
The ideal time for ongoing discussion of retirement planning with your chair and/or dean is during the annual faculty review period each January or February. Faculty should share decisions about their retirement intentions in their review during the year prior to their intended final academic year at Baylor (e.g., in February 2025 for those intending to retire at the end of 2025-2026) and set the date in writing by no later than the end of the Spring semester.
The decision to retire is up to you. Once a decision is made to accept the Program, you must notify your Chair as soon as possible.
No. Participation in the faculty retirement program is completely voluntary. Whether a faculty member chooses to take advantage of this program is entirely at their discretion. Baylor recommends employees considering the opportunity consult with their own legal counsel and only accept the opportunity if they believe this opportunity is right for them and they are voluntarily entering into the program. Baylor employees are not required to accept the offer and there shall be no retaliation for those who decline the opportunity up until the retirement contract is signed.
For the purposes of the Faculty Retirement Program, the years of service calculation for each eligible employee was determined by using the continuous years of service in the Baylor Human Resource records.
Monthly paid employees will receive the payment on the January or February regularly scheduled pay check.
Yes. Eligible employees who choose to retire with through the Faculty Retirement Program will receive retiree benefits in which they are eligible for. More information is available on the Baylor Retiree website.
Faculty can continue to retire on a schedule that works best for them and their future however you will not be considered as part of the program. The additional lump sum payment or other benefits created through the program will not be awarded.
No, this timeline is designed to provide an appropriate planning opportunity to both faculty and administration and must be applied consistently to ensure that everyone is treated fairly.
The state makes the determination on unemployment. Baylor will report reason for departure as retirement which normally negates unemployment compensation.
