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Chicago City Wire

Sunday, August 3, 2025

Former state university employee Thilker paid in $55K to pension fund, could collect $1.85M in retirement

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Former state university employee Karen Thilker, who retired in January 2017, saved $54,889 toward a pension over 32 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Thilker would collect as much as $1.85 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Thilker received $38,804 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 2 years of retirement, Thilker will have already received $78,772 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.

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