403(b) and 457 Savings Plans

• Contributions are pre-tax and Roth after-tax deferrals.
• Vendors are Fidelity and/or TIAA.
• Changes to your vendor and/or contribution amount will always take effect the next pay period.
• Change your contribution amount at any time in Workday. Navigate to "Change Benefits" in the Benefits & Pay Hub.
• If you make no changes, your contribution amount will roll over from year to year automatically.
• UVA will not make retroactive changes to excess contributions or deductions.
• In 2025, the savings limit is $23,500.

In Workday, select: 

• Benefits & Pay Hub 
• Change Benefits 
• Retirement Savings Change - Self-Service 

Workday will guide you through choosing the percentage or amount per pay period that you would like to contribute to the 403(b) plan. You will be guided through enrolling in cash match.

• Work with your vendor, TIAA and/or Fidelity, to make investment elections. 
• You will be placed into the default investment if you don't make a specific fund choice. 
• 457 enrollment is handled by Mission Square.  

Pre-tax

• The traditional 403(b) is pre-tax, meaning you invest before you pay taxes on gross income.
• When you withdraw the money during retirement, you will pay taxes at the current rate.

Roth

• Roth contributions are after-tax (pay taxes, then invest what remains).
• When you withdraw money at retirement, you’ve paid your tax already.
• You are not taxed later on all of Roth investment earnings beyond the up-front contributions (there may be exceptions).
• Annual limits on contributions are the same, regardless of whether the contributions are pre-tax or after-tax; for instance, you can make all of your future 403(b) contributions—with Fidelity and/or TIAA—Roth contributions (after-tax).

• If you are newly hired or rehired, $40/month of salary will automatically go to a default investment plan through the Fidelity 403(b) Plan—unless you enroll in a different 403(b) or 457 plan within 60 days of hire.
• Automatic enrollment triggers the monthly 50% UVA match of $20
• You may decline to set aside $40/month in retirement. By doing so, you give up the $20/month match.

Employees with VRS Hybrid Retirement Plans and a 403(b) plan get the UVA cash match only if they first put the full 4% optional voluntary contribution into their Hybrid Retirement Plan.

The long-term advantage of saving up to 4% of your income in a deferred savings plan

• If you are enrolled in the Medical Center Retirement Plan (MCRP) and hired prior to September 30, 2002, your employee contribution of $80 earns the maximum UVA cash match of $40.

  Employees with VRS and ORP plans earn the same match.

• If you are enrolled in the MCRP and hired on or after September 30, 2002, saving 4% of salary gets the maximum UVA cash match of 2%; UVA matches half of your employee contributions.

  Employees may choose to save less than 4% of their salary, and UVA will still match half of what is saved.

If you’re enrolled in the VRS plan 1 or 2, you are eligible to receive a cash match from UVA when you enroll in the 403(b) or 457 plan. The maximum match from UVA is 50% of your contribution, up to a maximum of $480 annually. For example, employees paid on a 12 month basis can contribute $80 monthly to receive a $40 match from UVA.  

The 403(b) contribution is deducted from 26 paychecks rather than 24 during the calendar year. An employee paid biweekly and eligible for the maximum cash match of $40 per month will receive approximately $18.46 per paycheck rather than $20. This also applies to some Medical center team members enrolled in the MCRP plan 1 (hired before 9/30/2002). 

• Contributions are pre-tax and Roth after-tax deferrals.
• Vendor is MissionSquare, a retirement service for public sector employers and employees.
• A one-time deferral option is available, by paper submission only.
• You can change your 457 contribution amount through your MissionSquare online account or by phone at 877.327.5261 (UVA will not make retroactive changes to excess contributions or deductions).
• If you make no changes, your contribution amount will roll over from year to year automatically.
• In 2025, the savings limit is $23,500.

• If you are enrolled in the Medical Center Retirement Plan (MCRP) and hired prior to September 30, 2002, your employee contribution of $80 earns the maximum UVA cash match of $40.

  Employees with VRS and ORP plans earn the same match.

• If you are enrolled in the MCRP and hired on or after September 30, 2002, saving 4% of salary gets the maximum UVA cash match of 2%; UVA matches half of your employee contributions.

  Employees may choose to save less than 4% of their salary, and UVA will still match half of what is saved.

• Enroll online through MissionSquare and create a user ID and password.
• Make your investment decisions online at MissionSquare Plan’s Investment Elections.
• Call MissionSquare at 877.327.5261 to enroll and to discuss investment choices on the Plan Information Line (UVA will not make retroactive changes to excess contributions or deductions).

TIAA: 800.842.2252

• Meet a Representative
• Plans & Investments
• Fund Performance

Fidelity: 800.343.0860

• Meet a Representative
• Plans & Investments
• Fund Performance

MissionSquare: 877.327.5261

• Meet a Representative
• Online Investment Decisions
• 457 Fund Performance

• TIAA Roth 403(b)
• Fidelity Roth 403(b) Facts
• 457 Designation of Beneficiary
• Cash Match Plan Document
• Notice of Automatic Enrollment and Default Investment
• MissionSquare one-time deferral option, paper submission only

All UVA employees who receive compensation reportable on an IRS W-2 form are eligible, as long as they contribute at least $200 per year.

Please take a moment to review the 403(b) program before enrolling. 

• You may enroll as soon as you are hired. 
• Contact Fidelity and TIAA, the two approved financial services companies, about plan investment options and services. They offer a wide range of mutual fund investment options and annuity products through their own funds and other investment managers in the industry, as well as resources and tools to help participants plan their investment strategy. 
• Once you are enrolled, you can review and change your contribution and investment allocation amounts at any time.
• The exact date your investment allocations will take effect may vary depending on the policies of the financial service firm providing the investment options you chose for plan contributions.

You may choose to defer a portion of your compensation on a pre-tax or post-tax (Roth) basis.

• Pre-tax contributions: Both federal and state income taxes are deferred on any contributions and earnings until a distribution is made from the plan. Distributions are taxed as ordinary income for federal and state income tax purposes. Generally, you must begin receiving a distribution no later than April 1 following the year you reach age 72 or retire (whichever is later). 

• Post-tax (Roth) contributions: Interest and earnings on these contributions when withdrawn are generally tax-free. If you retire or terminate employment, you can withdraw earnings tax-free as long as it has been five tax years since the first Roth 403(b) contribution and you are at least 59½ years old.

The law limits the amount you may defer.

• For 2025, the limit is $23,500 (larger limits may apply if you are age 50 or over, see top of page for details)
• Each participant only gets one limit for contributions to all 403(b) plans, so if you are also a participant in another employer’s 403(b) plan, your combined contributions to that plan and to the UVA plan are generally limited to the max IRS allowed amount.
  • If you do participate in more than one 403(b) plan, you are responsible for tracking and reporting the amount of all of your contributions to all plans so that the total amount does not exceed the limit.
  • The sum of all of your and your employers’ contributions to your 403(b) plan(s) are generally limited to $70,000 in 2025 or 100% of your compensation (whichever is less).