August 23, 2007

Eliminate Paper and Save Time: Switch to Online Enrollment

TIAA-CREF's Online Enrollment system is the fastest and easiest way for your employees to enroll in all of your plans. Consider some of the benefits of using online enrollment:

• The ability to enroll employees directly into your group retirement plans electronically
• Access to tools that enable you to track enrollment status, make individual record changes and check on any missed records from your desktop
• No need to maintain, send  or process paper enrollment kits

All of these services are available to you through the secure TIAA-CREF Plan Administrator website, so your participants' information is safe at all times.

Gain Convenience and Flexibility
There are three ways to use the online enrollment system for retirement plans under all TIAA-CREF annuity contracts:

1. Enable self-enrollment: Create unique plan enrollment access codes for any of your institution's retirement plans, enabling your employees to enroll themselves through TIAA-CREF's Individual Online Enrollment system.  This system, which is appropriate for institutions of any size, allows your employees to select specific fund allocations and provide beneficiary data prior to their first contribution.

2. File upload: Send "bulk" enrollment data for a group of employees all at once. Upon receipt, you will receive a confirmation email from TIAA-CREF.

3. Employee enrollment: Enrolling one employee at a time is ideal for small institutions, and it's useful for institutions of any size when there's a personnel change or you've missed a record. As with uploading, you can enroll employees immediately in your group retirement plans.

As soon as an employee is enrolled, TIAA-CREF will send him or her a welcome package that includes general information about the TIAA-CREF retirement system and the employee's plan. Approximately two weeks later, TIAA-CREF will send a package containing annuity documents and any riders or endorsements that may apply.

Online Salary Reduction Agreement
TIAA-CREF also offers an online salary reduction agreement service that will allow your institution to replace the paper salary reduction agreement. Your employees can use this form for initial enrollment and ongoing contribution changes.

Once submitted by your employees, you will have access to the completed agreement from the secure Administrator website. You can view and print agreements submitted by your employees within the last 90 days.

Take a Closer Look
View the Online Enrollment system by accessing our Plan Administrator Website demo.

Get Started

• Download the Administrator Services Application (PDF). The Primary Authorizer at your institution should assign the Participant Role (see pages 2, 3 and 5) for each administrator (one application per administrator) authorized to use Online Enrollment.
• Contact your assigned TIAA-CREF consultant or the Administrator Telephone Center (ATC) for more information and guidance. The ATC is available on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (ET) at 1 888 842-7782.