Of course, SUNY also offers its employees the opportunity to participate in the defined benefit plan if they so chose. The attractiveness of the defined contribution plan (run through TIAA-CREF) is that it is portable and can be taken with you if you move from a SUNY school to a private college or if you accept a position out of state. Many faculty like the mobility it offers because many of them never last long enough at one school to get tenure. Most colleges & universities offer TIAA-CREF to their employees