What Are My STRS Ohio Plan Options?

As a new member of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio), you have 180 days from your first day of paid service to choose one of the three retirement plans:

• STRS Ohio Defined Benefit Plan
• STRS Ohio Defined Contribution Plan
• STRS Ohio Combined Plan

Defined Benefit Plan

This is a comprehensive plan that provides benefits during your teaching career and in retirement. Under the Defined Benefit Plan, your retirement income is determined by a calculation that uses:

• Your age
• Your years of service, and
• Your final average salary (FAS) — the average of your five highest salary years

Other items of note:

• You receive access to health care coverage* if you meet health care eligibility requirements
• Benefits while you are teaching include survivor and disability benefits
• STRS Ohio manages assets in the Defined Benefit Plan. You are not responsible for making investment decisions
• Defined Benefit Plan participants are not eligible to reselect their plan during their fifth year of membership as they are under the other two STRS Ohio plans

*Coverage under the STRS Ohio Health Care Program is not guaranteed. STRS Ohio may change or discontinue all or part of the program for all or a class of eligible benefit recipients and covered dependents at any time.

Defined Contribution Plan

Under this plan, member and employer contributions are deposited in a retirement account that you manage. You choose how to allocate the contributions among various investment choices offered through the plan. Retirement income is driven by three variables:

• The amount of member and employer contributions deposited to your account
• The performance of investment choices you select, and
• The market annuity rates at retirement

Other items of note:

• Benefits such as disability and survivor benefits and health care coverage in retirement are your responsibility; they are not provided by STRS Ohio
• Defined Contribution Plan participants are eligible to reselect their plan during their fifth year of membership

Combined Plan

This plan includes features of the Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Plans, so you have benefits while teaching and the following two elements to your retirement benefit:

• An annuity from the defined benefit portion equal to 1% of your final average salary for each year of service credit
• An annuity from the defined contribution portion based on the value of the account and market annuity rates at the time of retirement

Other items of note:

• You receive access to health care coverage* if you meet health care eligibility requirements
• Benefits while you are teaching include survivor and disability benefits
• You have control of the investments in your defined contribution account
• Combined Plan participants are eligible to reselect their plan during their fifth year of membership

*Coverage under the STRS Ohio Health Care Program is not guaranteed. STRS Ohio may change or discontinue all or part of the program for all or a class of eligible benefit recipients and covered dependents at any time.

Making Your Plan Selection

Make your plan selection choice online via the STRS Ohio website. This is a fast, secure method to make your plan choice. Just log in to your Online Personal Account and click on “Member Information” in the top menu and then “Retirement Plan Selection” under Useful Links. If you haven’t set up your Online Personal Account, just click on the “LOGIN” link on the top right corner of the home page and then click the “Register now” link.

Additional Information

Further retirement plan details are available on the STRS Ohio website.

Please contact an STRS Ohio member service representative at 888-227-7877 (toll-free) to review and discuss your options thoroughly.

To learn more about investment options, review the quarterly Investment Performance Report.

More detailed information on specific funds may be found in the fact sheets.

Register for Online Account Access

Defined Contribution and Combined Plan participants need to register for two separate online accounts.

NRS/STRS Ohio Account: Use this online account to access features related to your defined contribution account, such as viewing your daily account balance, setting current allocations for future contributions and exchanging existing balances from one investment choice to another.

Register Now

STRS Ohio Online Personal Account: Use this online account to access benefits information related to your STRS Ohio retirement plan as well as to complete tasks such as updating contact information, applying for service retirement, changing beneficiaries or making a benefits counseling appointment.

To register, visit www.strsoh.org, select LOGIN in the upper right corner and then select "Register now".