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Chicago City Wire

Saturday, August 2, 2025

Former state university employee Bergfield paid in $155K to pension fund, could collect $2.88M in retirement

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Former state university employee Donald Bergfield, who retired in September 2016, saved $154,529 toward a pension over 26 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Bergfield would collect as much as $2.88 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Bergfield received $60,496 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Bergfield will have already received $186,987 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.

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