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Chicago City Wire

Saturday, August 2, 2025

Former state school employee Cowen paid in $54K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.03M in retirement

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Former state school employee Mary Cowen, who retired in January 2019, saved $53,663 toward a pension over 14 years working for public schools, Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Cowen would collect as much as $1.03 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Cowen received $21,617 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Cowen will have already received $66,817 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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