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Chicago City Wire

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Former state university employee Watkins paid in $102K to pension fund, could collect $1.21M in retirement

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Former state university employee Denise Watkins, who retired in January 2019, saved $101,978 toward a pension over 18 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Watkins would collect as much as $1.21 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Watkins received $25,500 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 4 years of retirement, Watkins will have already received $106,683 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.

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