Benefits January 21, 2011
Johns Hopkins University Introduces New 403(b)
January 21, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Johns Hopkins University announced a new 403(b) plan for its support staff retirement benefits package that will go into effect on July 1.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
The JHU Gazette reports that current support staff can stay in the existing support staff pension plan and continue to participate in the staff voluntary 403(b) plan, or opt to enroll in the new 403(b). All university support staff hired after July 1 will only have the new 403(b) option.
The plan will provide an automatic university contribution of 4% of base pay for eligible support staff members under age 35, and 8% of base pay for those ages 35 and over. Participants in the new plan will have a choice of investment options from vendors including Vanguard and TIAA-CREF.
According to the news report, Charlene Hayes, vice president for human resources, said the new plan will allow the university to phase out its pension plan gradually with as little disruption as possible to the retirement plans of current employees, and will also offer more-predictable retirement plan costs for the university.