Summary
An imperative for senior administration in higher education today is managing the flow of faculty through their institutions, from hiring to retirement. To this end, the TIAA Institute conducted the Faculty Generations Survey to examine faculty careers in academia. Who has primary responsibility for ensuring that someone has enough money for a financially secure retirement? Sixty-three percent of faculty says it is the individual and 32% maintain that it is the institution’s responsibility. Early Boomers, the generation most likely to have a defined benefit plan as their primary retirement plan, are the most likely (41%) to view the institution as having primary responsibility. These responses signal the need for educational efforts on the part of institutions to inform faculty about their retirement income needs and the level of benefits that can realistically be expected from a defined benefit plan (if available) and Social Security, and the resulting need for saving by the individual.
