Income in Retirement


To prepare for retirement income, the university provides a 5% non-elective employer contribution and a matching one-to-one contribution of up to 5%. Please note that the USC non-elective contributions are subject to a four-year vesting schedule; for detailed information please see USC Retirement Savings Program. Employees may make additional supplemental contributions (subject to IRS guidelines) and have both pre-tax supplemental or the Roth (after tax) matching options. Your retirement funds may be left with USC retirement plans upon retirement or may be rolled-over.  As long as you are actively employed, employees are not subject to required minimum distributions(regardless of your age).

At retirement, you may obtain distribution forms from your retirement plan vendor and submit them, with signature verifications to USCHR (uschr@usc.edu). If you are married or divorced additional spousal consent forms are required to initiate retirement distributions. Please contact your retirement provider to assist you with this process.

Effective March 1, 2021, all employees age 591/2 or older may take an in-service distribution from their 401(a), the 403(b) and their supplemental accounts, subject to investment contract restrictions.  Prior to this date, tenured faculty were limited to distributions from their supplemental accounts, unless they had signed retirement agreements.  All withdrawals are subject to taxes and will be reported as income to the IRS.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Federal law provides that USC employees participate in Social Security. For information regarding your Social Security benefits, please create a personal account.   It is prudent to consult the Social Security Administration to understand the options available to you.

Last updated August 2024