PLANSPONSOR - April/May 2019 - 42

University of Pittsburgh
Public Defined Contribution
Plan at a Glance
TOTAL PLAN ASSETS/PARTICIPANTS: $5.3 billion/24,826
PARTICIPATION RATE: 70%
AVERAGE DEFERRAL RATE: 18%
DEFAULT DEFERRAL RATE: 3%
DEFAULT INVESTMENT: TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Funds
AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT/ESCALATION: Yes/Yes
EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION: 100% on 8% prior to vesting,
then 150% on 8%
participants increased their contribution amount. And over 750
employees attended one-on-one sessions with TIAA advisers,
which sometimes included investment education and investment
allocation fiduciary advice. That was a 54% increase in meetings
compared with the first half of 2017.
The " Write Your Own Financial Story " campaign stemmed
Vice Chancellor of Human Resources Cheryl Johnson
W
hen the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) launched its " Write
Your Own Financial Story " communications campaign
last year, it wanted to get employees more interested in, and
invested in, their financial future.
" Everyone has passions and dreams, but not everyone is
thinking about a retirement that could potentially be more than
40 years away, " observes Assistant Vice Chancellor, University
Benefits, John Kozar. He says the university wanted to illuminate
" how an individual's goals, passions and dreams for the
future-whether they are financial or not-directly tie in to
understanding how and why that person should be saving now. "
As the campaign began, university officials especially hoped
to see more employees increase their contribution amounts and
attend one-on-one meetings with advisers from its recordkeeper,
TIAA, Kozar says. In the first half of the year alone, over 2,100
42 PLANSPONSOR.com April - May 2019
Photo by James Rajotte
from the university's collaboration with TIAA to develop a more
personal approach to employee retirement saving, says university
Benefits Supervisor Ryan Arrington. " We wanted to garner the
interest of employees wanting to increase their financial literacy,
as well as those employees who hadn't thought about their retirement
savings in quite some time. "
Plan Changes and Enhancements
The timing seemed right to reposition the school's retirementsavings
provisions with faculty and staff, because of recent plan
changes and enhancements, Kozar notes. In 2015, the university
had moved to a single recordkeeping platform with TIAA.
Later shifts included reducing the 403(b) plan's investment
menu, adding a new 457(b) plan, negotiating a 60% initial
reduction in recordkeeping fees-with subsequent reductions of
10% and 25% also negotiated-and introducing a self-directed
brokerage window option.
A desire for administrative simplicity and lower fees was
what motivated Pitt's consolidation to a single recordkeeper.
" The move to a single platform was also part of a longer-term
plan, " Kozar says. " We knew that we wanted to reduce the
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PLANSPONSOR - April/May 2019

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