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Chicago City Wire

Sunday, October 5, 2025

Former state university employee Swope paid in $125K to pension fund, could collect $2.09M in retirement

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Former state university employee Michael Swope, who retired in October 2017, saved $124,667 toward a pension over 20 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Swope would collect as much as $2.09 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Swope received $43,957 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Swope will have already received $135,867 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.

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