Columbia University, New York, is overhauling the investment options lineup of its 403(b) plans, confirmed Caroline A. Adelman, university spokeswoman.
The overhaul, effective June 1, creates a new three-tier lineup of investment options with TIAA-CREF and Vanguard Group, the plans' two existing record keepers, according to an email sent to employees Monday that Ms. Adelman provided.
The lineups under each record keeper will be identical, comprising a tier of target-date funds managed by Vanguard; a tier of core funds consisting of nine index funds and a money market fund managed by Vanguard and one passive large-cap core ESG fund managed by Calvert Research and Management; and a self-directed brokerage account tier.
Ms. Adelman could not provide further information on the changes; according to a transition guide on the university's website, the university's retirement plan committee "decided to make changes to the plans' investment lineup to further reduce fees and expenses and modernize the plans' investment menu considering current best practices."
The full existing investment options lineups were not immediately available. According to the TIAA-CREF transition guide, existing options mapping to the new options were managed by TIAA-CREF subsidiary Nuveen and Calvert, and Vanguard had previously been the sole manager of funds provided by Vanguard as a record keeper.
As of Dec. 31, 2020, the Retirement Plan for the Officers of Columbia University and the Columbia University Voluntary Retirement Savings Plan had $4.5 billion and $3.5 billion in assets, respectively, according to the plans' most recent Form 5500 filings.
