The TIAA-CREF Institute is sponsoring the new College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) Benefits Survey, a comprehensive survey of college and university benefit plans and programs for faculty and staff. This sponsorship was prompted, in part, by the Institute’s Building Expertise courses on employee benefits for plan administrators. Attendees appreciate the added benefit they get from being able to network and learn from other administrators during the course. The exchange of information about what kinds of benefits plans an institution has in place and how they are designed and funded is deemed invaluable.
The Institute views the CUPA-HR Benefits Survey as providing another way for administrators to "network" and learn what other like-minded organizations are doing with their benefits programs. Furthermore it will be helpful to senior administrators who need up-to-date data on the benefit plans and programs being offered throughout the higher education community when evaluating their institution’s total compensations package. The CUPA-HR Benefits Survey is the only formal survey that currently exists that focuses solely on colleges and universities.
In order to facilitate the data collection and analysis process, CUPA-HR established a web site access for members to respond to the survey. Results from the survey will be available both online and in hard copy beginning the summer of 2002.
The CUPA-HR Benefits Survey covers the full spectrum of benefits provided at colleges and universities. Survey respondents are asked to provide information about their institution’s plans, including: retirement plans; life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment plans; health care, prescription drug, dental, and vision plans; flexible spending account plans; employee assistance plans; paid and unpaid time off arrangements; educational assistance plans; domestic partner benefits; housing and relocation benefits; employment perquisites; and costs. Depending on the type of benefit plan or program, the survey results will delineate coverage for active faculty and staff as well as for dependents and retirees, or by type of appointment (e.g., faculty, executive, administrative/professional staff, or clerical/support staff).
The web site for collecting data also will feature a dynamic reporting capability that will permit survey respondents to create customized reports comparing their own data with that of all or selected groups of survey respondents. Online data analysis and reporting tools will be available for a fee to survey respondents, and on a more limited basis and at a higher cost, to colleges and universities that did not complete the survey questionnaire. Special studies that provide data on selected benefits programs at no fewer than eight institutions are also available for purchase by survey respondents and non-respondents, as will be a hard copy report on the survey results.
For more information, visit the CUPA-HR web site.
