Advertisement

Header Utility Menu

  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Events

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

  • Login

Virginia Business

Mobile Menu

  • Issues
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Advertisement

Header Primary Menu

  • Issues
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • Issues Archive
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Home News Industries Education Virginia private colleges adopt innovative retirement plan

Virginia private colleges adopt innovative retirement plan

Published April 2, 2018 by Robert Powell, III

Fourteen Virginia private colleges are collaborating on an innovative employee retirement plan that is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

The schools expect the move to reduce their administrative burdens and cut costs while helping employees prepare for retirement.

The schools are members of the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV), an umbrella organization representing 28 private, nonprofit institutions.

A CICV committee has been working for more than five years on the project, known as a 403(b) Multiple Employer Plan (MEP). 

An MEP is offered by a group of employers that operate in a similar field but are separately owned.

Like the 401(k) defined-contribution retirement plans used by for-profit companies, 403(b) refers to the section of the federal tax code outlining such plans for nonprofit employers.

Pete D’Angio, national director for not-profit-markets with Pentegra Retirement Services, a vendor for the CICV plan, says it represents “a significant event in my industry” that will be closely watched by other colleges. (Colleges in Wisconsin are finalizing an MEP plan.)

The plan is “the first higher-education plan of its kind,” D’Angio says, predicting that five to 10 similar plans likely will be established in the next five years.

CICV “built the playbook, and it’s an effective playbook,” he says.

One of the reasons for high interest in the CICV plan is the increasing oversight responsibilities for 403(b) plans that colleges have faced over the past decade.

Many schools have had to add administrative staff to handle oversight issues.

One of CICV’s roles is to help its members work collaboratively to gain access to resources and reduce costs.

“There are many things that each individual college has to do on its own, but we’re finding increasingly that when colleges come together and pool their resources, we get a better result,” says Robert Lambeth, CICV’s president.

He notes that CICV created a self-insured health insurance consortium a decade ago that is now used by 16 of its members.

That experience, Lambeth says, gave college officials the confidence to investigate the creation of an MEP. “We quickly realized that it had never been done in the nonprofit world,” he says.

Lambeth says a CICV committee studied the concept methodically before deciding “that this made a lot of sense both for the benefit of our employees … and for the benefit of colleges.”

Noting that many small colleges have lean administrative staffs, Lambeth says the MEP would allow many retirement plan responsibilities to be handed off to outside firms that had been vetted by CICV.

At the same time, colleges participating in the plan expect it to offer employees a better selection of investment options in addition to more guidance on retirement planning. 

Paul Davies, the MEP’s board chair who is vice president of administration and finance at Randolph-Macon College, says that, by combining assets, the plan was able to negotiate reduced fees for employees while giving them individualized counseling, financial planning and access to professional asset-management services.

“We really see this as a win-win across the board. It's accomplished everything we hoped when we set the goals to put this together,” he says.

The MEP will cover more than 9,400 people at the 14 schools.

They include: Appalachian College of Pharmacy, Averett University, Bridgewater College, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Emory & Henry College, Ferrum College, Hollins University, Lynchburg College, Mary Baldwin University, Randolph-Macon College, Shenandoah University, Southern Virginia University, Sweet Briar College and Virginia Wesleyan University.

They will join the MEP in phases through the middle of next year. The first three colleges to join are Bridgewater, Ferrum and Mary Baldwin. 

Goals for the MEP include:

• A robust education and financial advising program aimed at helping employees meet retirement goals.
• Constant monitoring of investment options and fees.
• Reduction of colleges’ administrative burden, fiduciary liability and cost in managing retirement plans.
• Flexibility that allows each school to tailor the plan to accommodate its needs.

Firms providing services to the MEP include:

• Millennium Advisory Services: employee investment advising and education
• Pentegra Retirement Services: plan administration and compliance
• PRM Consulting Group: RFP (request for proposal) consulting and management
• SageView Advisory Group: plan-level investment advising
• TIAA: recordkeeping
• Troutman Sanders: legal services

Related Stories

Virginia Business logo

Hampden-Sydney receives its largest gift

Virginia Business logo

Schools will be assigned letter grades

Virginia Business logo

$1 million gift will create scholarship endowment at Richard Bland College

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Get Virginia Business directly on your tablet or in your mailbox!

Subscribe to Virginia Business

Advertisement

Advertisement

Footer Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Footer Secondary Menu

  • Industries
  • Regions
  • Reports
  • Company News
  • Events

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Sign Up

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Footer Utility Menu

Copyright © 2023 Virginia Business. All rights reserved.

Site Maintained by TechArk