Faculty and staff at the University of Vermont participate in the University's 403(b) defined contribution plan provided the following criteria are met:

 - faculty and staff must have a full-time equivalency of .75 or greater;

 - staff must be employed three years before they qualify for University contributions to their retirement plan, or they must have a vested interest in the retirement plan of their previous nonprofit employer, or have a TIAA-CREF Retirement Account;

 - non tenure-track faculty and faculty under the rank of Assistant Professor must wait two years to qualify for University contributions to their retirement plan, or they must have a vested interest in the retirement plan of their previous nonprofit employer, or have a TIAA-CREF Retirement Account;

 - tenure track faculty at the level of Assistant Professor or above receive University contributions to their retirement plan immediately upon beginning employment.

 To obtain University contributions, faculty members and officers of administration must contribute 3% of their salary, and staff must contribute 2%.  The University's contribution to the retirement fund of qualified faculty and staff is 10% of salary and this amount is immediately vested.

 The University participates in contributory retirement plans for full-time employees administered by the Teachers Insurance Annuity Association of America (TIAA), the College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF), the Prudential Company of America, and Fidelity Investments.  The University's policy is to accrue the costs of these defined contribution plans currently.

 Since both faculty and staff are immediately vested in all retirement contributions made on their behalf, the University has no control of, responsibility for, or ownership of retirement funds, except that employees may not withdraw funds contributed to their retirement plan by the University while employed at the University.  Retirement funds may be transferred among the 403(b) alternatives at the discretion of the employee.

 Upon leaving the University, employees may either withdraw funds from their accounts, or transfer the funds to other investment alternatives subject to the limitations of 403(b) regulations and the contractual provisions of their investment alternative.

 For the year ended June 30, 1999, the University had total payroll expense of $131,619,000, of which $98,178,000 was covered by the University's retirement plan.  Total employee and employer contributions for pension benefits for the year were $7,945,000 and $9,818,000 respectively.  The University's contribution for pension benefits is 10% of the covered payroll.