Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP)

Whether you are contemplating participating in the Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP) or already enrolled, this page is intended to provide you with valuable information about your benefits and pay while enrolled in the Program.

The Faculty Early Retirement Program is administered by the Office of Faculty Affairs and Development. The source of much of this information is Article 29 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Board of Trustees of California State University and the California Faculty Association, which you are encouraged to read in its entirety.

FERP is a program that allows tenured faculty who are eligible for service retirement to retire and continue teaching for a maximum time-base and duration for a maximum of five years as established in the Unit 3 Faculty Collective Bargaining Agreement. It allows a faculty member to receive their retirement income plus receive up to one-half of a year’s salary for teaching one semester each year or half-time both semesters each year. The program allows a faculty member to work a maximum of ninety (90) days per year (or 50% of the faculty member’s regular time-base in the year preceding retirement) while receiving full retirement income from the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS).

For general information on the application process, please contact Ms. Cheryl Atienza at (310) 243-3766.

What You Should Know

1. Completing the Service Retirement Election Application:

CalPERS recommends that you begin the steps to retire from CalPERS at least a year before your retirement date. However, you should not submit your Service Retirement Application to CalPERS more than 120 days prior to your retirement date. You must have applied for and received verification of your CalPERS Service Retirement prior to the first day of the academic year in which your participation in FERP begins. Contact Faculty Affairs for the respective FERP Application deadline for the Academic Year you wish to begin FERP. If you have not already done so, please visit the CalPERS website for information on upcoming retirement workshops and the retirement process.

2. Choosing Your Separation & Retirement Effective Dates:

After consulting with CalPERS and/or receiving a Retirement Estimation, choose a retirement date that works best for you. The Separation date that you supply on your FERP application date should be the day before your "PERS Retirement Date".

3. Deciding the Number of Sick Leave Hours to Carry-Over into Retirement:

Faculty entering FERP may carry over up to 48 hours of sick leave credit for use during FERP. FERP Faculty continue to earn sick leave credit on a pro-rata basis for each active pay period. A maximum of one hundred and sixty (160) hours of sick leave may be accrued during FERP. At the end of the FERP appointment, any remaining sick leave is forfeited and may not be converted to service credit.

4. Submitting Your CalPERS Service Retirement Election Application:

Submit your completed retirement application and the required documents to CalPERS. Your application can be submitted in person at a CalPERS Regional Office, by mail, or online using my|CalPERS. Be sure to keep a copy of all the documents submitted for your own record.

Links to Resources

Article 29 Faculty Early Retirement Program
Article 30 Pre-Retirement Reduction in Timebase
CalPERS Retirement Guide and Reference
CalPERS Retirement Estimate Calculator

We encourage you to visit the CSUDH Benefits Services website for additional CalPERS information such as: Retirement Formula, Vesting Requirements for Health and Dental Benefits and much more.

CSUDH Benefits Services - CalPERS Retirement

Contact Information:

Diana Diaz, Benefits Services Manager

(310) 243-3005

Helpful Documents and Form

Application to submit for consideration for Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP).