September 21, 2001

Indiana U. Needs $2-Billion to Pay for Its Generous Faculty-Retirement System

By SCOTT SMALLWOOD

Because the Indiana University System failed to set aside enough money for its generous faculty-retirement plan, its administrators must come up with $2-billion over the next three decades to pay professors who are no longer teaching, the Associated Press reported late last month.

In the late 1950s, as Indiana struggled to attract and retain top scholars, the university devised a program known as the 18-20 plan. It allows faculty members or administrators who have worked there for at