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The best place to start exploring retiring is by verifying your eligibility with CU Benefits. Faculty can make an appointment to speak with a benefits advisor and get their eligibility for retirement and/or specific dates when they will become eligible for retirement confirmed. 

Once retirement eligibility has been confirmed, the next step is for faculty to speak with their unit head about their interest/intent to retire. The conversation should consider if a retirement agreement is or is not needed to support the faculty member’s retirement. 

Once an agreed upon effective date and approach to the retirement has been settled, the faculty member should document their intent to retire, along with any other key points the unit head agreed to for the retirement, in a letter to the unit head. HR partners in the unit will use this letter to initiate the appropriate next steps on campus.  

Please note: Faculty must complete the CU Benefits process for retirement once campus processes have been initiated/completed. 

Per : "To be eligible for university retirement benefits offered in addition to the 401(a) ORP, employees must be 55 years of age; have five (5) years of eligible CU Service; and meet the age and years of eligible CU service requirements for regular or early retirement. 
 
Regular or early retirement is based on the 70/75 formula. If the combined age and years of eligible CU service for a faculty or university staff member enrolled in the 401(a) ORP adds up to 75 or more, that individual is eligible for regular retirement and is entitled to receive 100% of the University of Colorado contribution towards retiree insurance benefits upon retirement. If the age and years of eligible CU service adds up to 70-74, the individual is eligible for early retirement, and the University of Colorado contribution towards retiree insurance benefits will be pro-rated based on the actual years of eligible CU service divided by the required years of eligible CU service for regular retirement. Eligible years of CU service will include all years in which the employee worked in a regular, retirement-eligible position at 50% time or greater at the University of Colorado."

The Office of Faculty Affairs can give faculty and units an estimate of faculty's years of service, but CU Benefits is the only office that can provide a verified calculation because they have access to employment records across the CU System. 

There are two kinds of retirement agreements CU Boulder regularly offers: regular retirement agreements and phased retirement agreements. 

• Regular retirement agreements are usually entered into one year out from the intended retire date and they indicate any special arrangements (teaching or service release) that the home unit is supporting before retirement. These agreements are binding and require faculty to retire on the day indicated in the agreement. 

• Phased retirement agreements can be anywhere from one to five years long, and they also document any special arrangements being made to support the faculty members' retirement. Usually, phased agreements are used to support faculty reductions in FTE over time. The phased agreement ensures the faculty member still receives contributions to their retirement account at the same rate as if they were still full-time. 

Per : All tenured and tenure track [and teaching] faculty members who are employed at 50% time or greater and: 1) will be at least 55 years of age by the end of the term of the phased retirement agreement; and  2) whose age and years of half time or greater service at the university total at least 65 are eligible to participate in this phased retirement program (“Program”).  ”).   

Faculty interested in a retirement agreement should contact their unit head (ideally a year or more before they intend to retire). The retiree and the unit head discuss the terms of retirement and use the Retirement Memo Form as directed by the school/college. The retirement memo is the first step in the process; the memo is not a binding agreement. This retirement memo should be submitted by the school/college faculty HR liaison. If the faculty member wrote a letter notifying the primary unit about their retirement, the letter should be attached to the memo. For phased retirements, information agreed upon between the faculty member and department/unit (including annual merit formula, course assignments, and full-time equivalent (FTE) for each semester leading up to the retirement) should be included in the unit’s comment box. Once the Office of Faculty Affairs (OFA) receives the completed retirement memo, a retirement agreement will be drafted and sent to the school/college faculty HR liaison for routing in DocuSign for signatures. Please note that once signed, the retirement agreement is a binding agreement. 

For more information regarding faculty retirement agreements as well as the resources you need to begin on your path to retirement from the University of Colorado, see the CU System resource: