Education – Page 2 – CU-CitizenAccess.org

In order to understand why Champaign is doing so well with their pensions compared to
other Illinois cities and the state itself, we’re going to go through a little crash course about
pensions.
A pension is the benefits paid to employees after they retire, usually a predetermined
amount of money given out each month. The pension is paid out from a pension fund, which is
the pool of money that is used to pay out participating employees’ pensions. The amount of
money within the pension fund is sometimes referred to as the plan fiduciary net position.
Pension funds gain money through employee contributions (the money employees put
into the pension fund), employer contributions (the money employers put into the pension fund),
and investment returns (the money gained from the investing of pensions funds). They generally
lose money through finally paying out an employee’s pension, investment losses, and
administrative upkeep.

Two of the most important concepts when it comes to pensions are total liability and
unfunded liability. Total liability includes the previous costs associated with pensions, but also a
calculation of future costs the pension fund will have to pay for eventually, aka what they will
have to pay when all their employees retire. Employees’ average lifespans, disability rates,
spousal lifespans, etc. are used to calculate what is the most likely amount of money the pension
fund will need o have in order to pay all their employees pensions throughout their lifespan.
As employees pension benefits increase and new employees are hired, the total liability
may become larger than the amount of money the pension fund currently has. This difference
between total liability and available money in the pension fund is called unfunded liability.
Unfunded liability is not due to be paid at the time it is taken on, but there is also no
money to pay for it when it is taken on. Therefore, it is a future payment that is promised to be
paid for later or in parts over time, similar to a loan.
For example, a city establishes a fire department in 1990 with 10 firefighters that when
they retire will receive $10,000 annually. Originally, it was assumed they would collect pension
for 20 years, so the pension fund aimed to have $2,000,000 for the firefighters’ retirement. By
2000, they have the $2,000,000 in plan fiduciary net position, but at this time the state decides
that retired firefighters will receive $15,000 per year instead, and the average lifespan
assumption has increased by 5 years. The pension fund’s total liability has grown from
$2,000,000 to $3,750,000, nearly doubling their original total liability. On top of that,
investments have not returned as much as expected and the city only puts in enough money to
cover administrative costs, so the plan fiduciary net position remained unchanged. While its
$2,000,000 was originally enough to fully fund all the firefighters’ pensions, now it is only
enough to fund 53% of their pensions. There are always a lot more moving funds and

calculations involved in real life examples, but this simple example sums up what has been
happening with many Illinois city pensions.

Read more about the article University NetMath building continues to struggle with lack of renovations, internal restructuring

Mallory Miller

The exterior of the NetMath building at 912 S. Fifth St. Photo taken by Mallory Miller.

University NetMath building continues to struggle with lack of renovations, internal restructuring

Post author:Mallory Miller / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 17, 2024
Post category:Education Public Funds

The NetMath building on campus at 912 S. Fifth St. has been an eyesore for years. Although the need for roofing and shingle repairs…

Read more about the article Respiratory illnesses spiked early at McKinley, University of Illinois campus this fall

McKinley Health Center website

McKinley Health Center on the University of Illinois campus.

Respiratory illnesses spiked early at McKinley, University of Illinois campus this fall

Post author:Fiza Dahra / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 17, 2024
Post category:CU-Covid19 Education Public Health

This fall, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign experienced an earlier-than-usual rise in respiratory illness cases, according to Awais Vaid, medical director at McKinley…

Read more about the article Police institute pursues a ‘non-militaristic’ approach to training

Kaitlyn Devitt

Photos of former police training classes inside of the Police Training Institute. Taken by Kaitlyn Devitt on Nov. 4, 2024 at 1004 S Fourth St in Champaign.

Police institute pursues a ‘non-militaristic’ approach to training

Post author:Kaitlyn Devitt / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 9, 2024
Post category:Education Government Public Funds

With rising enrollment the Police Training Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign aims to set itself apart from other academies by following…

Read more about the article Academic integrity violations increase nearly 20% at University of Illinois

Kaitlyn Devitt

The Office of Student Conflict Resolution is located within the Student Services Building at the corner of Sixth and John Street, photographed October 8, 2024 by Kaitlyn Devitt.

Academic integrity violations increase nearly 20% at University of Illinois

Post author:Kaitlyn Devitt / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:October 28, 2024
Post category:Education

Last academic year, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign saw nearly 1,200 cases of academic integrity violations, a 19.4% increase from the previous school…

Read more about the article University of Illinois seeks to have ‘less adversarial’ relationship with landlords to provide more resources for student tenants

Screenshots of the Housing Explorer retrieved using the Internet Archive.

University of Illinois seeks to have ‘less adversarial’ relationship with landlords to provide more resources for student tenants

Post author:Liv Barwinska / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:January 4, 2024
Post category:Education Housing Technology

Following the takedown of the University of Illinois’s Housing Explorer database, a resource for students seeking housing in Urbana and Champaign, the Off-Campus Community…

Read more about the article Post affirmative action, University of Illinois to use socioeconomic data; Nonwhite student enrollment increased in the past four years

Darrell Hoemann/The News-Gazette

A building on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. More than 400 buildings lack emergency evacuation plans.

Post affirmative action, University of Illinois to use socioeconomic data; Nonwhite student enrollment increased in the past four years

Post author:Grace Brinkman / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 21, 2023
Post category:Education

Despite a small decrease in the Black student population, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has seen an increase in nonwhite student enrollment since…

Read more about the article Hotels, flights top credit card costs for Champaign Unit 4 School District; Over $850,000 spent on Amazon in past school year

Darrell Hoemann

Kenwood School on Sunday, December 19, 2021. photo by Darrell Hoemann/C-U Citizen Access

Hotels, flights top credit card costs for Champaign Unit 4 School District; Over $850,000 spent on Amazon in past school year

Post author:Will Charlton / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 8, 2023
Post category:Education Public Funds

In the past fiscal year, Champaign Unit 4 School District spent over $321,000 on expenses charged to American Express credit cards according to its…

Read more about the article Concerns of stalking at University of Illinois increase as it appears many incidents go unreported

Women's Resources Center

A session at the Women's Resources Center Career Institute in 2019.

Concerns of stalking at University of Illinois increase as it appears many incidents go unreported

Post author:Yunah Elsner / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:June 23, 2023
Post category:CU-Covid19 Education Government

Concerned about the number of stalking cases on campus, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign held a Stalking Prevention and Response Summit this past…

Read more about the article Number of surveillance cameras continue to increase on University of Illinois campus; has surged to nearly 2,400

Nicole Littlefield

Henry Administration Building

Number of surveillance cameras continue to increase on University of Illinois campus; has surged to nearly 2,400

Post author:Nicole Littlefield / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:June 23, 2023
Post category:Education Government Justice Technology

A steadily increasing number of security cameras have been used to solve hundreds of investigations on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus in…

Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity on the University of Illinois campus has been placed on conduct probation until Nov. 16, 2021 after violating mask protocol and city emergency orders.

COVID-19 delays, alters University inspections of private certified housing; less violations discovered annually

Post author:Weiyu Ding / For CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:June 29, 2022
Post category:Education Housing

Between 2020 and 2021 in Champaign, more than 40 private certified housing locations for the University of Illinois campus decreased the number of violations…