Service Credit & Milestones

Your pension is based on four factors: tier of membership, age at retirement, final average salary, and total service credit.

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Your service credit accumulates as you work. It is important to have all the service credit for which you are eligible because your total service credit impacts your eligibility for NYSTRS benefits — and often the amount of those benefits.

There are several types of service that can build your credit and help you reach important service milestones including: 

  • Working for a NYSTRS-participating employer.
  • Receiving credit for prior service and/or military service (as allowed by law). 
  • Transferring credit from another New York state public retirement system.
  • Reinstating to an earlier date of membership.
  • Receiving benefit enhancement (Article 19) service credit (Tiers 1 and 2 only).

Learn about the various types of service credit in our Active Members’ Handbook. See Your Service Credit Matters to learn how to track your service and why it’s important to retire after a service milestone.

Service Milestones

As you achieve certain service milestones, you become eligible for additional benefits.

    • You will be covered by an in-service death benefit.
    • If you are a Tier 3-6 member who dies as the result of an accident sustained while teaching, an accidental death benefit may be payable to your beneficiary instead of the in-service death benefit.
    • If you are a Tier 3-6 member you may borrow from your member contributions once per calendar year (Jan. 1-Dec. 31). If you joined NYSTRS prior to July 1, 2022, you must have a minimum of $1,334 in your member contributions fund; if you joined on or after July 1, 2022, you must have a minimum of $2,000. For more information about loans, see Borrowing From Your NYSTRS Contributions.

    • Your pension will become vested, and you are eligible for a NYSTRS service retirement benefit at age 55. (Vested Tier 6 members with an inactive membership must be at least 63 to retire.)

    • You may be eligible for a disability retirement benefit if you cannot continue to work because of an illness or injury.
    • If you leave teaching with at least 10 years of service credit and die before retirement, you will be covered by a vested death benefit of half the in-service death benefit that would have been paid on the last day of working.
    • If you are a Tier 4 member, you stopped making 3% required contributions when you attained 10 years of credit or membership, whichever occurred first.

    • If you are a Tier 3 or 4 member, the pension factor used in your benefit calculation will increase from 1.67% per year to 2% per year.
    • If you are a Tier 6 member, the pension factor used in your benefit calculation will increase from 1.67% per year to 1.75% per year (i.e., 35% for your first 20 years) plus 2% for each year beyond 20.
    • If you are a Tier 1 or 2 member, the pension factor used in your benefit calculation will no longer include a service-related reduction.

    • If you are a Tier 5 member, the pension factor used in your benefit calculation will increase from 1.67% per year to 2% per year.

    • If you are a Tier 2-4 member, you can retire without an age-related reduction to your pension when you attain 30 years of credit or reach age 62.
    • If you retire under Tier 4 or 5, you will receive an additional 1.5% per year toward your pension factor for each year of credit beyond 30 years.
    • If you are a Tier 5 member, you can retire without an age-related reduction to your pension when you retire either at: age 62 or later; or, at age 57 or later with at least 30 years of service credit.
    • If you are a Tier 6 member, you can retire without an age-related reduction to your pension when you retire either at: age 63 or later; or, at age 58 or later with at least 30 years of service credit.

Track Your Service Credit With Your Benefit Profile

Know how much service credit you have by reviewing it at least once a year. 

Your Benefit Profile, which is issued each fall and always available in MyNYSTRS, provides an annual overview of where your retirement stands based on your service credit, earnings and other key factors. It also includes your contact information and beneficiaries. Depending on your membership status and eligibility, your Profile may also include projections of service retirement benefits, disability and death benefit projections, a summary of your member contributions, and loan information (if applicable).

Review your Profile to verify your salary and service credit have been correctly reported to NYSTRS by your employer. If you notice an error, ask your employer to correct the records and to submit the revision to the System. Correcting any discrepancies now will help expedite the processing of your benefits in the future.

Claim Prior Service

Claim any uncredited prior service early to reduce the amount of interest due and to avoid delays in processing at retirement. Pursuing prior service early in your career is also important because some older records with your previous employer may only be available on paper, which may take time to locate.

Apply for prior service online in your MyNYSTRS account, where you can also track the progress of your claim.

Active Members' Handbook

Your comprehensive resource to help you better understand your retirement benefits.