NASHVILLE -- New employees of the University of Arkansas System and its campuses will not be eligible to enroll in the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System, or APERS, come July 1.
Current employees who are on that retirement plan will see no changes.
In the past, employees were able to enroll in the public employees' system or the University of Arkansas Retirement Plan, through TIAA-CREF or Fidelity. In the public employees' system, the employer is required to contribute 14.5 percent, compared with 10 percent employer contribution in the university retirement plan.
The system is also combining the University of Arkansas Community Colleges Retirement Plan and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith Retirement Plan with the University of Arkansas Retirement Plan, which would be a systemwide plan.
UA System trustees approved the changes Thursday.
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board changed its reporting standards for the treatment of pension plans, which affected the amount it owed in liability, according to board documents.
"Because market returns were poor in the marketplace, our liability will grow," said Ann Kemp, the system's vice president of administration. "It will take us a while to work our way out of this liability, but the first step is to turn it off for new employees."
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