NM Alternative Plan

Eligible employees are notified by Benefit Services. An enrollment form and beneficiary form are required.

retirement_couple-200x300.jpgPlan Information

The New Mexico Alternative Retirement Plan is an optional defined contribution retirement plan available to faculty and certain non-faculty employees who have never contributed to the New Mexico Educational Retirement Plan. Please contact the individual carriers for plan details.

Participants contribute 10.7% of gross pay, pre-tax, and the university contributes 10.9% to the carrier. Eligible employees have 90 days from the date of hire to exercise this retirement option. Once participation has been elected, the participant cannot change their election, except as stipulated below.

Employees that choose participation in the Alternative Retirement Plan will have a one-time opportunity to change to the Educational Retirement Board plan after 7 years of contributions to the ARP. Employee’s interested in changing to the ERB plan after 7 years should contact the Educational Retirement Board.

NMSU Benefit Services identifies eligible employees upon hire. Once eligibility is confirmed with the NM Educational Retirement Board, eligible employees are sent information regarding this program, as well as election forms. The member must set up the ARP account with the vendor prior to submitting the election form to Benefit Services to ensure contributions are credited to the correct investment account. To see a list of Alternative Retirement Plan eligible positions and a summary of the program, please see the NMERB ARP Operations Manual (section I.B.).

For more information on the Alternative Retirement plan, including the ARP Operations Manual, visit the NMERB Alternative Retirement Plan webpage.

Current Vendors Approved for NMARP Contributions:

Termination Before Retirement

Upon termination, employees participating in the Alternative Retirement Plan may choose one of the following two options: Retire: Upon retirement, ARP participants have three options:
  1. A monthly annuity based on the retiree's estimated life span,
  2. Payments received over a fixed term of years, or
  3. A lump sum payout.
Refund/Rollover: Refund/rollover the employee contributions plus NMSU's contributions. Contact the carrier for information regarding rollover and distributions requirements. Read more about ARP when terminating at https://www.nmerb.org/receiving-a-distribution-from-arp/.
This is a summary description of benefits available to eligible New Mexico State University employees. This information does not set a contractual commitment of benefits.NMSU reserves the right to interpret, change, modify, amend, or rescind these guidelines in whole or in part at any time without the consent of employees. If you have questions concerning benefits, please contact the Benefit Services department.

Contact Benefit Services: Benefits is a division of HR Services located at Hadley Hall, Room 17 | MSC 3HRS Ph: 575.646.8000 | Email: benefits@nmsu.edu