Chicago City Wire

Former state university employee James Cichowski, who retired in January 2017, saved $25,624 toward a pension over 6 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Cichowski would collect as much as $1.24 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Cichowski received $25,971 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 1 years of retirement, Cichowski will have already received $25,971 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.