Abstract  

Employees of institutions of higher education are entitled to voluntarily contribute to a tax deferred annuity (TDA). Congress created this tax shelter to encourage and assist university faculty to supplement their retirement income. The TDA has been available for over 20 years, and this study measures its use by a large random sample of currently employed faculty of the State of Ohio. A major finding is that only one-half the sample participates in the TDA program. The study provides statistics on the demographic characteristics of participants and nonparticipants.