The retirement plan landscape has significantly changed over the past several years from a regulatory, administrative and service offering perspective. For example, historically, service providers like TIAA and Vanguard did not provide investment flexibility, meaning that they could only offer their own proprietary investment fund options. As such, Skidmore College offered both TIAA and Vanguard in an effort to provide a diverse range of investment options for Plan participants. Now, service providers can and do offer increased investment flexibility. In fact, Vanguard investment options are currently available to participants via the TIAA platform. In addition, transitioning to a single service provider offers an enhanced and equitable experience for all Retirement Plan participants with several benefits, including:

• Leveraging the full value of the College’s plans’ assets to achieve lower administrative fees paid by individuals participating in the plans
• A dedicated website for participant investment management
• Easy access to a single investment menu as well as other plan information and features through one service provider
• Access to enhanced financial tools and education that are consistent for all Retirement Plan participants
• A more streamlined and less confusing enrollment process for new employees
• Improved oversight of the overall fees for the Plan and effectiveness of the Retirement Plans for the benefit of all participants.

TIAA is a financial services organization that is focused on providing retirement plan offerings to the higher education marketplace. According to recent market data, TIAA provides retirement plan services to over 6,000 colleges and universities compared to Vanguard, which provides services to approximately 40 institutions. Further, while all funds currently offered via the Vanguard platform are currently offered via the TIAA platform, TIAA’s annuity products are not currently offered via Vanguard. Finally, TIAA has a self-directed brokerage option to provide maximum flexibility for participants. You can view the full TIAA investment menu at https://www.tiaa.org/public/tcm/skidmore/investment-performance

As sponsor and administrator of the Retirement Plans, Skidmore College is required under federal law to periodically review its Plans’ range of investment options and investment option performance, select a service provider for the Plans, evaluate the services they will provide to the Plans and monitor the fees charged by the service provider and plan investments. These duties are carried out by the College’s Retirement Oversight and Investment Committee (ROC), which meets once a quarter to review the Plans and service providers. The current members of the ROC are:

• Sarah Delaney Vero, General Counsel and Vice President for Human Resources
• Daniel Konstalid, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer
• Kyle Bernard, Controller, Director of Financial Services and Associate Treasurer
• Julie Delay, Director of Human Resources
• Laura Goodwin, Assistant Director of Benefits Administration
• Associate Professor Ting Li

Pursuant to these responsibilities, the ROC determined that consolidating our plan administration with one service provider, TIAA, is in the best interests of all current contributors and retirees. The ROC’s determination to transition to a single service provider was reviewed and endorsed by the IPPC Subcommittee on Budget and Finance last spring. It was also reviewed by IPPC last spring and again this fall. IPPC provided valuable feedback, including potential concerns of individuals affected by this change as well as suggestions for the timing and content of the notification of the transition to participants and timeline for implementation of the change.  

No. There is no monetary benefit to the College. The College does not pay a fee to its retirement plans service providers. All investment and administrative fees are paid by plan participants. However, there are some non-monetary benefits to the College, such as reducing administrative redundancy and compliance requirements associated with managing multi-vendor plans.

Yes. Currently, Vanguard funds are offered via the TIAA platform. Importantly, the most popular Vanguard funds will continue to be offered via the TIAA platform post-transition to a single provider structure. Please note the funds may have slightly different names. As an example, the Vanguard 500 Index is available on the TIAA platform as the Vanguard Institutional Index.

The targeted effective date of the change is May 1, 2024. The time required to make this transition is approximately four months and will commence in January 2024.

TIAA and Skidmore HR will provide direct communication via updates to this web page, employee and retiree emails and mailings, scheduled webinars, opportunities to schedule one-on-one virtual or in-person consultations sessions with TIAA advisors, meeting announcements and the Skidmore Weekly Bulletin. TIAA will also be providing a comprehensive Transition Guide in the spring with details on key dates, specific action steps, informational webinars and resources available to you.

No, this recommendation does not affect the design of the College’s Retirement Plans, including the College’s contribution rates, eligibility to participate in the Retirement Plans or vesting rights.

In short, the transition process will be relatively easy and automatic. No immediate action is required.

To provide more detail:

1. If you have an active TIAA account, and no Vanguard account, no action is required.
2. If you do not have a TIAA account, and only have a Vanguard account, a TIAA account will automatically be opened for you as part of the transition process. You will need to create a TIAA login and update beneficiary elections. Your current Vanguard investments will be mapped to the TIAA platform. Before and after the targeted transition date of May 1, 2024, you have full control in making changes, as you do now. A detailed Transition Guide will be provided to you well in advance of the transition date and advisors will be available to address your questions.
3. If you have both an active TIAA account and a Vanguard account, your current Vanguard investments will be mapped to the TIAA platform. Your Vanguard account will be closed. Before and after the transition date of May 1, 2024, you have full control in making changes, as you do now. No action is required. A detailed Transition Guide will be provided to you well in advance of the transition date and advisors will be available to address your questions.

The Skidmore College 403(b) Retirement Plan for Employees Represented by UPSEU Local 1222 will be transitioned from Vanguard to TIAA as the service provider. This change does not impact your retirement benefits per the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

In short, the transition process will be relatively easy and automatic. A TIAA account will automatically be opened for you as part of the transition process. You will need to create a TIAA login and update beneficiary elections. Your current Vanguard investments will be mapped to the TIAA platform. Before and after the targeted transition date of May 1, 2024, you have full control in making changes, as you do now. A detailed Transition Guide will be provided to you well in advance of the transition date and advisors will be available to address your questions.

Yes, active participants over 59.5, retiree participants and individuals who no longer work at Skidmore can transfer assets to a Vanguard IRA, if desired. Former employees may have the option to roll-over their Vanguard funds to another employer-sponsored retirement plan. Detail on these options will be provided as part of follow up transition communication that you will receive in the spring.

The Plan will continue to incur investment and administrative fees. As part of the transition to an exclusive service provider structure Skidmore will be modernizing the Plan’s fee structure in an effort to create more transparency and equity. Additional details will be provided explaining these changes as part of the Transition Guide.

During the spring 2024 implementation process, TIAA and the HR team will provide the community with detailed communication and many opportunities to ask questions. In the meantime, you may direct your general questions to the HR team at benefitsHR@skidmore.edu. You are welcome to reach out to TIAA at any time as they are currently a service provider for Skidmore employees, but please note that if you have investments with Vanguard they will not have access to any your Vanguard investment information until after the change occurs.