Buying TRS of Oklahoma service: more years, at a price

• You can buy credit for prior Oklahoma service, substitute teaching (120+ days in a school year, up to 5 years), higher-education adjunct work, military active duty (up to 5 years), out-of-state public education service, and some leaves.Member Handbook (2025), pp. 14-16
• Military and out-of-state service each need two years of Oklahoma contributory service after for every year you buy.Member Handbook (2025), pp. 14-15
• The cost is actuarial: it depends on your age, salary, when you could retire unreduced and a projected final salary. Bills must be paid 90 days before you retire, and purchased service generally doesn't help you vest.Member Handbook (2025), pp. 9, 16-17, 21

What you can buy

• Prior Oklahoma (non-contributory) service before July 1, 2021. Member Handbook (2025), p. 14
• Substitute service: 120+ days in a school year, up to 5 years. Member Handbook (2025), p. 14
• Adjunct service in the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education before membership: 18+ credit hours in a school year, up to 5 years. Member Handbook (2025), p. 14
• Prior military active duty: 180 days in a school year = 1 year, up to 5 years; 2 years of contributory Oklahoma service after the military years for each year bought. Member Handbook (2025), pp. 14-15
• Out-of-state public education service credited in that state's system, if not eligible for benefits there; 2 years of contributory Oklahoma service after for each year bought. Member Handbook (2025), p. 15
• Leave, workers' compensation, USERRA military duty, family leave (90 days or less in a child's first year), official sabbatical. Member Handbook (2025), pp. 15-16

The cost

Cost depends on age, full-time salary and contribution level at purchase (or the prior year's salary if higher), the earliest unreduced retirement age, and an estimated future salary at retirement (actuarial). Bills must be paid 90 days before the retirement date; late payment means recalculation, possibly higher. Member Handbook (2025), pp. 16-17, How much does it cost to purchase service?; p. 21; Retirement seminar slides, slide 25

Purchase billings generally must be requested while an active contributing member or within 60 days of termination; redeposits must be requested and paid while active. Payment by check, rollover, or employer installments. Member Handbook (2025), p. 21, What methods are used to pay billing statements? Installments for redeposits and other payments may be amortized up to 60 months with interest, completed before retirement. 70 O.S. § 17-116.2(O)

What a year adds

Each year adds 2% of your final average salary a year, for life (see the benefit formula):

Our engine on the 2% formula. A purchased year also counts toward the Rule of 80 or 90, which can remove an early cut, but it generally doesn't count toward vesting. Member Handbook (2025), p. 12, How will my monthly benefit be computed at retirement?; 70 O.S. § 17-116.2(A)(2)(a); Member Handbook (2025), p. 9, How do I become vested in TRS of Oklahoma?; OAC 715:10-7-1 (rules eff. 9/1/25, p. 43); 70 O.S. § 17-105(B)

Compare a bill with what it adds: try your service with and without the years in the calculator. If a purchase gets you to the Rule of 80 or 90 sooner, see which group you're in and one more year for what reaching it is worth. Withdrawn service you redeposit is covered under leaving teaching.

Questions