Institutional Federal Compliance Report 2021

____________________________________________________________________________________________ STATE OF NEW YORK • 115

Discount Rate The discount rate used to measure the net pension lia- bility measured at December 31, 2017 was 6.5 percent, which is consistent with the December 31, 2016 mea- surement date. The projection of cash flows used to determine the discount rate assumed that contributions from plan members will be made at the current member contribution rates and that contributions from members will be made at statutorily required rates, actuarially determined. Based on these assumptions, the fiduciary net position was projected to be available

to make all projected future benefit payments of current plan members. Therefore, the long-term expected rate of return on pension plan investments was applied to all periods of projected benefit payments to determine the total pension liability. The following presents the net pension liability calculated using the discount rate of 6.5 percent, as well as what the net pension liability (asset) would be if it were calculated using a discount rate that is 1 per- centage point lower (5.5 percent) or 1 percentage point higher (7.5 percent) than the current rate (amounts in millions): become fully vested after completing one year of service. Contributions are allocated to individual employee accounts. The Research Foundation pension contributions, which represents pension expense, were $31 million for the year ended June 30, 2018, which is 100 percent of the required contribution. CUNY Senior Colleges’ Pension Plans NYCERS and NYCTRS CUNY Senior Colleges participate in the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS) and the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York Qualified Pension Plan (NYCTRS). NYCERS and NYCTRS are cost-sharing, multiple-employer defined benefit plans administered by the City of New York. NYCERS and NYCTRS provide retirement benefits, as well as death and disability benefits. NYCERS and NYCTRS provide benef i ts to members who are in different Tiers. A member’s Tier is determined by the date of membership. Subject to certain conditions, members generally become fully vested as to benefits upon the completion of five years of service. Annual pension benefits are calculated as a percentage of final average salary multiplied by the number of years of service, and change with the number of years of membership within the plan. Ben- efits for members can be amended under the RSSL. Contribution requirements of the active employees and the participating New York City agencies are estab- lished and may be amended by the NYCERS and NYCTRS Board. Employees’ contributions are deter- mined by their Tier and number of years of service. They may range between zero and 9.1 percent of their annual pay. Statutorily required contributions to NYCERS and NYCTRS are actuarially determined in accordance with State statues and City laws and are funded by the employer within the appropriate fiscal year. CUNY made its contractually required contri- butions to both NYCERS and NYCTRS for the year ended June 30, 2018 in the amounts of $44.8 million and $102.1 million, respectively. 1% Current 1% Decrease (5.5%) Assumption Increase (7.5%) (6.5%) 12.8 $ 1.5 $ (8.2)

Net pension liability (asset) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $

Optional Retirement Program SUNY employees may also participate in an Optional Retirement Program (ORP) under IRS Section 401(a), which is a multiple-employer, defined contribution plan administered by separate vendors—TIAA, Fidelity, VALIC, and VOYA. ORP employer and employee con- tributions are dictated by State law. The ORP provides benefits through annuity contracts and provides retire- ment and death benefits to those employees who elected to participate in an ORP. Benefits are deter- mined by the amount of individual accumulations and the retirement income option selected. All benefits generally vest after the completion of one year of service if the employee is retained thereafter. Employer contributions are not remitted to an ORP plan until an employee is fully vested. As such, there are no for- feitures reported by these plans if an employee is ter- minated prior to vesting. Employees who joined an ORP after July 27, 1976 and have less than 10 years of service or membership are required to contribute 3 percent of their salary. Those joining on or after April 1, 2012 are required to contribute between 3 percent and 6 percent, dependent upon their salary, for their entire working career. Employer contributions range from 8 percent to 15 percent depending upon when the employee was hired. Employee contributions are deducted from their salaries and remitted on a current basis to the respective ORP. For the year ended June 30, 2018, SUNY recognized a pension expense of $207.6 million for the ORP. The Research Foundation The Research Foundation for SUNY is a separate, private, nonprofit educational corporation that admin- isters the majority of SUNY’s sponsored programs. These programs are for the exclusive benefit of SUNY. The Research Foundation maintains a separate non- contributory plan through TIAA for substantially all nonstudent employees. Contributions are based on a percentage of earnings and range from 7 percent to 15 percent, depending on date of hire. Employees