In January 2025, your Virginia Retirement System Defined Contribution Plan will introduce a new enhanced DCP website, powerful new plan features and a new record keeper, Voya Financial® (Voya). No action is required.

Questions about the transition?

Be sure to read the transition newsletter, mailed to your home address the week of October 21.
Register for a transition information session, hosted by Voya Financial.
Visit dcp.varetire.org/transition for additional details about what’s new, key transition dates and Voya's readiness tools and resources.
Contact a Voya customer service associate at 833-625-0115.

Retirement

Classified staff participate in the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) as a condition of employment. University and Academic Professionals are also required to participate in VRS as a condition of employment, except those in eligible job titles, who may elect the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) instead of VRS within the first 60 calendar days of ORP-eligible employment. See ORP Eligible Jobs.

Faculty members, eligible University and Academic Professionals, and Postdoctoral Scholar employees may choose the ORP in lieu of the Virginia Retirement System within their first 60 calendar days of ORP-eligible employment. Eligible employees who do not elect the ORP within this election period become members of the Virginia Retirement System. See the retirement comparison chart between ORP and VRS Hybrid.

Be sure to check out more detailed information on Core Retirement Plan Features (PDF), Voluntary Retirement Savings Plan Features (PDF) and annual limits.

VCU Optional Retirement Plan (ORP)

The ORP is a defined contribution plan in which eligible VCU faculty, eligible University and Academic Professionals, and Postdoctoral Scholar employees may elect to participate in lieu of participating in the VRS.

VCU Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) faculty participants obtain their retirement distributions from their chosen retirement vendors. A variety of distribution options are available, ranging from annuities or systematic withdrawals, to lump-sum distributions. Distributions are also subject to federal and state taxes and possibly a 10 percent penalty, depending on age at time of distribution and method of distribution. ORP faculty should contact a retirement counselor with their respective ORP vendor.

Virginia Retirement System (VRS)

VRS provides a hybrid retirement plan and defined benefit retirement plans. Plan eligibility for each is determined by VRS membership date and employee type. In each plan, VCU makes employer contributions that fund defined retirement benefits and members contribute five percent of their own semi-monthly salaries to their individual member accounts. Member contributions are made on a pre-tax basis.

Virginia Retirement System (VRS) members can receive a monthly income benefit for life during retirement. A number of payment options are available, including survivor benefits and PLOP (Partial Lump-Sum Option Payment). VRS provides a comprehensive pre-retirement planning page that allows you to calculate your own estimated VRS benefit and obtain information on your retirement options and purchasing service. See also the VRS Member Handbook. View Employer Service Retirement Forms.

Retirement savings options

In addition to the core retirement plans discussed above, employees may participate in voluntary retirement savings through the Tax Deferred Annuity and/or the Deferred Compensation Plan.

When the time comes, you must attend a “How to Retire” seminar within a year of your expected retirement. You then need, contact VCU Benefits at benefits@vcu.edu or (804) 827-1723 at least 90 days prior to your retirement date so you can arrange to complete all of your retirement paperwork. This action will help ensure your retirement check and related benefits will not be delayed.

For steps to retire from state employment upon leaving VCU, see the ORPChecklist(final) or the VRSChecklist(final) depending upon your retirement plan.

Retirement vendors, TIAA and Fidelity provide Individual retirement counseling for the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP), Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) Program and Deferred Compensation Plan (DCP).

Personal Assistance

VCU Human Resources invites you to meet with the following vendors virtually to review their investment products and provide individual retirement counseling sessions:

VCU Optional Retirement Plan (ORP): TIAA, Fidelity Investments
VCU Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) and Roth 403(b) Programs: TIAA, Fidelity Investments
VCU Cash Match Plan (Cash Match):

TIAA, Fidelity Investments (TDA participants)
MissionSquare Retirement (DCP participants)

Virginia Deferred Compensation Plan (DCP/457b) and VRS Hybrid: MissionSquare Retirement

Seminars and Presentations

Visit the Virginia Retirement System website for VRS webinars and seminars. Attending Virginia Retirement System (VRS) seminars offsite is considered work time for state employees, provided they attend no more than one offsite seminar every two years. Prior supervisory approval is required to attend.
View seminars pertaining to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) or the VCU Optional Retirement Plan (ORP).
View VCU HR presentations on:

Retiring with the Virginia Retirement System and the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System

Retiring with the VCU Optional Retirement Plan for faculty.

Faculty and staff who meet age and service requirements may apply for coverage under the state retiree health benefits program. To qualify, retiring faculty and staff covered by the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) must immediately begin receiving a VRS defined benefit. Retiring faculty covered by the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) must meet the age and service requirements that would have qualified them for an immediate VRS defined benefit under the VRS plan for which they would have been eligible had they not elected the ORP.

Application for retiree health coverage is required within 31 days of retirement. For more information, review the Retiree Fact Sheets on Health Benefits from DHRM. Note: Health care costs may fluctuate from year to year. Anticipate possible increases when planning your retirement.

Retiree health insurance credit
Faculty and staff with 15 or more years of state service may be eligible for the state's retiree health insurance credit program. This program is designed to help offset the cost of retiree health coverage. To qualify, retiring faculty and staff covered by VRS must immediately begin receiving a VRS defined benefit, and faculty covered by the ORP must meet the age and service requirements that would have qualified them for an immediate VRS defined benefit under the VRS plan for which they would have been eligible had they not elected the ORP.

To be eligible for retiree life insurance, you must meet minimum age and state service requirements, as indicated below:

VRS, VaLORS and ORP Plan 1 members (retirement plan membership date prior to July 1, 2010) must be at least age 50 with 10 years of state service or age 55 with five years of state service.
VRS, VaLORS and ORP Plan 2 members (retirement plan membership date July 1, 2010 or later) must be at least age 60 with 5 years of state service, or the sum of your age and years of state service must equal 90.

The value of your retiree life insurance is either your current basic life insurance amount at retirement or two times your highest annual base state salary if you have 20 or more years of state service; and it reduces by 25 percent each year on January 1, beginning after the first full year of retirement. Once your basic life insurance reaches 25% of its value, there are no further reductions.

Retiree life insurance is administered by VRS and is automatically provided to VRS and VaLORS retirees.
Retiree life insurance is not automatically provided to ORP retirees. They must obtain written certification from VCU Human Resources on (VRS form 65-D) and return the completed form to VRS within 15 days of retirement to obtain retiree life insurance coverage; coverage for ORP retirees is not available if this requirement is not met.

Visit the Virginia Retirement System website to view more information about basic life insurance.

If you have participated in optional life insurance for a minimum of 60 months at the time you retire, you may retain a portion of this coverage in retirement. The coverage value reduces at specified ages and terminates at age 80. To retain your coverage in retirement, complete the retiree continuation election form (VRS form 39-R).

Long term care insurance

If you retire from a VSDP-covered position and wish to retain your VSDP long-term care coverage, you may do so by completing the election form (VRS-170) and returning the completed from to the carrier within 31 days of leaving your covered position. If you currently participate in the Commonwealth of Virginia's voluntary long-term care insurance program, contact Genworth, the plan provider, before you retire to find out how to continue this insurance coverage after retirement.

VCU benefits announcements will come only from VCU emails or social media accounts

VCU Human Resources is aware that some employees have received email solicitations or social media contacts that attempt to represent themselves as official communications from VCU about employee benefits. VCU announcements about employee benefits will come only from VCU email addresses or through official VCU social media channels. VCU's approved retirement plan service providers are Virginia Retirement System, TIAA, and Fidelity Investments. Communications from these approved retirement plan service providers will include their logos and references to specific programs in which VCU employees participate. Communications from other parties are not authorized by VCU.

Contact Us

For questions about your benefits, please submit a help ticket through the HR Service & Support Tool. You can also contact benefits@vcu.edu or call (804) 827-1723.

Your HR Professional may also be able to answer some benefits related questions.