Check with Nebraska School Retirement SystemEstimate only, not an official benefit amount. Confirm with Nebraska School Retirement System (800-245-5712) before you decide.
Your estimated monthly check
Fill in the form and we'll show your monthly benefit, your tier, the date it's unreduced, what retiring early costs, and what one more year adds. The formula is 2% of your average monthly pay for each year of service.
Your road to a full benefit
Retire as planned, or work longer?
Your check at every age
After you retire
Try NPERS's examples
NPERS's handbook shows a Tier One member with a $35,000 salary. Tap a link to load it.
- Age 65 with 20 years: $1,166.67 a month. School Handbook p. 43, Example: Tier One Calculations (Normal, Age 65, 20 Years)
- Age 60 with 20 years, 15% less: $991.67 a month. School Handbook p. 43 (Reduced, Age 60, 20 Years)
- Age 55 with 30 years, the Rule of 85: $1,750.00 a month. School Handbook p. 43 (Rule of 85, Age 55, 30 Years)
How a partial year of early retirement is counted Check with NPERS
NPERS's handbook counts your age in years and months for the 3%-a-year early cut, but its table and examples only show whole years, and the law says 'each year'. We don't know whether a partial year is cut by month.
What we do: We cut 0.25% for each month you are under 65 (3% a year), so 61 years 6 months is 10.5%.
What would settle it: An NPERS estimate for a member retiring at, say, 61 years and 6 months.Common questions
What is the NPERS School Plan?
The Nebraska School Employees Retirement System, the pension plan for Nebraska public school employees outside Omaha. NPERS (Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems) runs it and calls it "the School Plan". You're vested after 5 years.
How is my pension calculated?
Years of service × your final average monthly compensation × 2%. The average is your highest 3 twelve-month periods in Tier One, or 5 in Tiers Two to Four. Raises over 8% a year near the end don't count.
When can I retire with a full benefit?
At 65, or earlier under the Rule of 85: your age plus service adds up to 85, from age 55 in Tiers One to Three or 60 in Tier Four.
Can I retire early?
Yes, from age 60 with 5 years. The benefit is cut 3% for each year you're under 65, for life: 15% at 60.
Does my pension get a raise?
Each July 1 after a full fiscal year retired: up to 2.5% in Tier One and up to 1% in Tiers Two to Four, based on the CPI-W.
Is this the official NPERS calculator?
No. It's an unofficial estimate built from NPERS's School Handbook and Nebraska law, not affiliated with NPERS. NPERS decides your benefit. Its number is 800-245-5712.
Compare Nebraska with other states
- States where teachers don't get Social Security: Nebraska law and a legislative report point to Social Security coverage, but NPERS doesn't say so outright.
- Teacher DROP plans by state: No. The School Plan has no DROP.
- Teacher pension COLAs by state: Each July 1, a raise based on inflation (CPI-W): up to 1.0% for Tiers Two to Four, up to 2.5% for Tier One.
- State taxes on teacher pensions, by state: NPERS says monthly benefits are subject to Nebraska income tax.
- Teacher pension multipliers by state: 2% × years of service × average of your highest three (Tier One) or five (Tiers Two to Four) 12-month periods.
- Teacher retirement age by state: Age 65 once vested, or the Rule of 85 (age + years = 85) from age 55. Tier Four: from age 60.
Plain-English guides
How your pension works
Which tier am I in?Tiers One to Four by the date you joined: the 3- or 5-year average, the Rule of 85 at 55 or 60, and the COLA cap.→The benefit formulaYears × average monthly pay × 2%, the 3- vs 5-year average and the 8% salary cap.→Rule of 85 and early retirementA full benefit at 65 or under the Rule of 85; a 3% a year cut from 60; the 35-year rule in state law.→Buying service creditLeaves of absence, out-of-state or Omaha service, five years before you retire, and vesting credit.→NPERS glossaryPlain-English definitions of FAMC, the Rule of 85, bona fide termination and other NPERS terms.→
Planning your exit
Leaving: refund or pension?A refund of your contributions, a pension later if vested, repaying a refund with NPERS's factors, and the RMD deadline.→Taxes on your pensionFederal and Nebraska withholding, pre-1986 contributions, and Nebraska's Social Security exclusion.→NPERS and Social SecurityWhat NPERS, Nebraska law and a legislative report say, and what they don't.→
After you retire
Working after retirementThe 120-day separation from May 1, 2026 (180 days before), coaching, and going back after.→The COLACPI-W capped at 2.5% for Tier One and 1% for Tiers Two to Four, the 75% floor and the July 2025 increase.→Retiree health insuranceWhat NPERS's publications say (very little) and who to ask.→Death and survivor benefitsThe refund, your spouse's 100% annuity or refund plus 101%, and what each option leaves after you retire.→
More calculators
Work for Omaha Public Schools? You're in a separate plan, the Omaha School Employees Retirement System (OSERS), with its own rules. NPERS has run it since September 2024. These pages don't cover it, or the University of Nebraska, State Colleges or community colleges. School Handbook p. ii; NPERS 2026 Annual Report p. 8, OSERS Transfer Project; p. 3, statutes administered (Class V School Employees Retirement Act 79-978 to 79-9,124); Neb. Rev. Stat. §79-979
Source: Nebraska School Employees Retirement System Handbook, Revised 07/2026, pp. ii, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 23, 28, 29, 31, 32-33, 34, 35, 36-38, 43, 45. Also: NPERS 2026 Annual Report pp. 3, 8; Retirement News Sept. 2023 p. 2; Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 79-934, 79-979. Last reviewed .