Active Members

Purchasing Service
All information displayed only relates to the Defined Benefit Plan. Click on Defined Contribution Plan or Combined Plan for information on these retirement plan options.
Types of Purchasable Credit

Restoration or Transfer of Service Credit Between STRS Ohio & Other Ohio Retirement Systems

Section 3307.761 and 3307.763, Revised Code

STRS Ohio members who are members of the Cincinnati Retirement System, Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, or Highway Patrol Retirement System may restore or transfer credit between the other systems and STRS Ohio.

Eligibility Requirements

  • You are a member of another Ohio retirement system or STRS Ohio and are not receiving a pension or any type of benefit; and
  • You are a member of another Ohio retirement system or STRS Ohio, are not contributing to that system, and have accumulated contributions (at least 1.50 years of contributing service for restorations) in STRS Ohio; or
  • You are a former member of another Ohio retirement system and have withdrawn contributions from another Ohio retirement system.

Maximum Credit
The maximum credit you can buy is the total earned credit and purchased military credit that was withdrawn and can be used to increase your benefit. Total service credit cannot exceed one year in any STRS Ohio fiscal year.

Certification
Call STRS Ohio toll-free at 1-888-227-7877 or send an e-mail to ContactUs@strsoh.org to request a cost statement. Please note that e-mail submissions on this site are unsecured, so only include your name and the last four digits of your Social Security number with your message. Upon request, a certification form will be mailed to you for purchasing STRS Ohio credit for service withdrawn from another Ohio retirement system, or to transfer inactive service.

Since information must be obtained from another retirement system, please allow eight weeks to receive a cost statement.

Cost
There is no cost to the member in the event of a transfer. If you have not withdrawn your account, you may elect to have the credit transferred directly from the other Ohio retirement system to STRS Ohio. Once the member contributions and interest are transferred, the credit will be posted to the account. For more information about transferring your account, call STRS Ohio.

If the account was refunded, the cost to restore is based on the amount refunded by the other Ohio retirement system, plus 8% annual compound interest (subject to change) from the date of the refund through the month of purchase.

Example:
Assume a member withdrew 6.00 years of credit from another Ohio retirement system on March 23, 1992, receiving a refund payment of $14,574.

To estimate the cost to purchase 6.00 years of credit withdrawn from the other Ohio retirement system:

Using the table below, find the 8% annual compound interest factor for 17 years (1992 until 2009) and multiply it by $14,574.

3.70 x $14,574 = $53,924

Annual Compound Interest Factors by Years
Years 4% 8%
1 1.04 1.08
2 1.08 1.17
3 1.12 1.26
4 1.17 1.36
5 1.22 1.47
6 1.27 1.59
7 1.32 1.71
8 1.37 1.85
9 1.42 2.00
10 1.48 2.16
11 1.54 2.33
12 1.60 2.52
13 1.67 2.72
14 1.73 2.94
15 1.80 3.17
16 1.87 3.43
17 1.95 3.70
18 2.03 4.00
19 2.11 4.32
20 2.19 4.66
21 2.28 5.03
22 2.37 5.44
23 2.46 5.87
24 2.56 6.34
25 2.67 6.85
26 2.77 7.40
27 2.88 7.99
28 3.00 8.63
29 3.12 9.32
30 3.24 10.06

In this example, the cost to purchase 6.00 years of withdrawn credit from the other Ohio retirement system is approximately $53,924 in February 2009.