Your Cost Letter and accompanying election form will indicate the payment options available to you. In general, if you are currently in active service receiving regular salary payments, you can make your payment or purchase through payroll deductions. Alternatively, you can make an online payment in the secure section of our website at www.trsnyc.org.

For optional service credit purchases, you may be offered additional payment options, such as a transfer of funds from an external NYS- or NYC-sponsored 403(b) or 457 plan, or from your TRS Tax-Deferred Annuity Program (TDA) account.

Service outside of New York State is not creditable in TRS for members in Tier II, III, IV, or VI.

However, Tier I members may be able to purchase outside teaching service credit for teaching or pedagogical supervisory service in a school or college not maintained by the City of New York.

Being vested means having enough credited service to qualify for a reduced retirement allowance.  Members become vested upon attaining five years of credited service.  (Note:  Before April 9, 2022, Tier VI members and certain Tier IV members needed ten years of service credit to be vested.)

Vested members become eligible to retire upon reaching age 55.

Generally, only prior service with a New York State or City public employer is creditable. Prior service outside New York State is not creditable (except for Tier I members as outside teaching service). Creditable prior service must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• The service is otherwise creditable and was performed while you were employed in a TRS-eligible position but before you enrolled in TRS (e.g., service as an eligible paraprofessional or as a CUNY adjunct that preceded TRS membership); or
• The service predates your membership in an eligible New York State or City retirement system, but would have been creditable at the time the service was performed had you been a member of that retirement system; or
• Credit was previously granted for the service in an eligible New York State or City retirement system, but you lost your membership rights with that retirement system; or
• The service is otherwise creditable and was performed while you were ineligible for membership in a public retirement system (e.g., service as a substitute teacher performed prior to membership eligibility of the substitute teaching title under the Board of Education Retirement System (BERS)).

The regular pension portion of your retirement allowance is calculated based on factors such as your Total Service Credit and Final Average Salary (FAS), as indicated below.

The second portion of your retirement allowance is based on your Annuity Savings Accumulation Fund (ASAF) balance. An ASAF account contains monthly supplemental contributions that the Department of Education provides to certain eligible employees who reach the maximum of their salary schedule. At retirement, any ASAF funds you have are transferred into an Annuity Reserve Accumulation Fund (ARAF), which is paid as part of your retirement allowance.

For more information, please see the If I am a Tier IV member, how would my Final Average Salary (FAS) be calculated? FAQ above.

Under Death Benefit #1, the benefit would equal 1/12 of the member's last 12 months' regularly earned salary multiplied by each full year of Total Service Credit—to a maximum of three times the member's annual salary; this maximum would apply to members who have 36 or more years of Total Service Credit. (This description assumes that the member was in active service and died with at least one year of Total Service Credit since last joining TRS.)

As of October 1, 2000, beneficiaries of Tier II, III, and IV members receive the greater of either Death Benefit #1 or Death Benefit #2, even if the member had elected Death Benefit #1 coverage. Members who joined TRS after January 1, 2001 (including Tier VI members) are automatically enrolled in Death Benefit #2.

Under Death Benefit #1, the benefit would equal 1/12 of the member's last 12 months' regularly earned salary multiplied by each full year of Total Service Credit—to a maximum of three times the member's annual salary; this maximum would apply to members who have 36 or more years of Total Service Credit. (This description assumes that the member was in active service and died with at least one year of Total Service Credit since last joining TRS.)

As of October 1, 2000, beneficiaries of Tier II, III, and IV members receive the greater of either Death Benefit #1 or Death Benefit #2, even if the member had elected Death Benefit #1 coverage. Members who joined TRS after January 1, 2001 (including Tier VI members) are automatically enrolled in Death Benefit #2.

Under Death Benefit #1, the benefit would equal 1/12 of the member's last 12 months' regularly earned salary multiplied by each full year of Total Service Credit—to a maximum of three times the member's annual salary; this maximum would apply to members who have 36 or more years of Total Service Credit. (This description assumes that the member was in active service and died with at least one year of Total Service Credit since last joining TRS.)

As of October 1, 2000, beneficiaries of Tier II, III, and IV members receive the greater of either Death Benefit #1 or Death Benefit #2, even if the member had elected Death Benefit #1 coverage. Members who joined TRS after January 1, 2001 (including Tier VI members) are automatically enrolled in Death Benefit #2.

A-B-S stands for the Annual Benefits Statement. In-service members and members on a leave of absence for up to seven school years can view their ABS by logging in to the secure section of our website. The statement summarizes the members' Total Service Credit and lists their designated beneficiaries. Benefit estimates and benefit projections are also provided to certain retirement-eligible members. This information is reported as of the previous June 30.

A-B-S stands for the Annual Benefits Statement. In-service members and members on a leave of absence for up to seven school years can view their ABS by logging in to the secure section of our website. The statement summarizes the members' Total Service Credit and lists their designated beneficiaries. Benefit estimates and benefit projections are also provided to certain retirement-eligible members. This information is reported as of the previous June 30.