You are eligible to participate in the Plan immediately after your date of hire.

Enroll online at any time, or by calling the Fidelity Retirement Benefits Line at 1-800-343-0860.

Through automatic payroll deductions, you may contribute up to 100% of your eligible compensation as pretax contributions. Sign up online by accessing the “Contribution Amount” section under “Quick Links” on NetBenefits^®, or by calling the Fidelity Retirement Benefits Line at 1-800-343-0860.

A Roth contribution to your retirement savings plan allows you to make after-tax contributions and take any associated earnings completely tax free at retirement - as long as the distribution is a qualified one. A qualified distribution, in this case, is one that is taken at least five tax years after your first Roth 403(b) contribution and after you have attained age 59½, or become disabled or die. Through automatic payroll deduction, you may contribute between 1% and 100% of your eligible compensation as designated Roth contributions, up to the annual IRS dollar limits.

Find more information online within the "Plan & Learn" drop down and "Learn" section of NetBenefits^®.

If you have reached age 50 or will reach 50 during the calendar year January 1 – December 31 and are making the maximum plan or IRS contribution, you may make an additional catch-up contribution each pay period. The maximum annual catch-up contribution is $7,500. Going forward, catch-up contribution limits will be subject to cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) in $500 increments.

The IRS contribution limit for 2025 is $23,500.

You are always 100% vested in your own contributions to the George Mason University 403(b) Plan, as well as any earnings on them.

To help you meet your investment goals, the Plan offers you a range of options. You can select a mix of investment options that best suits your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. The many investment options available through the Plan include conservative, moderately conservative, and aggressive funds. A complete description of the Plan’s investment options and their performance, as well as planning tools to help you choose an appropriate mix, are available online.

We encourage you to take an active role in the George Mason University 403(b) Plan and choose investment options that best suit your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. If you do not select specific investment options in the Plan, your contributions will be invested in the Fidelity Freedom^® Fund Class K with the target retirement date closest to the year you might retire, based on your current age and assuming a retirement age of 65, at the direction of George Mason University.

If no date of birth or an invalid date of birth is on file at Fidelity, your contributions may be invested in the Fidelity Freedom^® Income Fund Class K. More information about the Fidelity Freedom^® Fund Class K options can be found online.

Target Date Funds are an asset mix of stocks, bonds and other investments that automatically becomes more conservative as the fund approaches its target retirement date and beyond. Principal invested is not guaranteed.

For those desiring the most investment flexibility and choice, the Plan offers Fidelity BrokerageLink^®, a self-directed brokerage account, which provides you with the opportunity to select from thousands of investment options beyond those offered in the standard plan lineup. More information about BrokerageLink^®, including an overview, the commission schedule, and a fact sheet that outlines the Plan-level restrictions and other settings, is available online at NetBenefits. Click on "Quick Links," then select "BrokerageLink."

Although your plan account is intended for the future, you may borrow from your account for any reason.

Learn more about and/or request a loan online, or by calling the Fidelity Retirement Benefits Line at 1-800-343-0860.

Withdrawals from the Plan are generally permitted when you terminate your employment, retire, reach age 59½, or have a severe financial hardship, as defined by your plan.

Learn more about and/or request a withdrawal online, or by calling the Fidelity Retirement Benefits Line at 1-800-343-0860.

You are permitted to roll over eligible contributions from another 401(k) plan, 401(a) plan, 403(b) plan or a governmental 457(b) retirement plan account or eligible pretax contributions from conduit Individual Retirement Accounts (rollover IRAs) and certain non-conduit individual retirement accounts (traditional IRAs, Simplified Employee Pension plans, and "SIMPLE" IRA distributions made more than two years from the date you first participated in the SIMPLE IRA). A conduit IRA is one that contains only money rolled over from an employer-sponsored retirement plan that has not been mixed with regular IRA contributions.

Additional information can be obtained online, or by calling the Fidelity Retirement Benefits Line at 1-800-343-0860.

Be sure to consider all your available options and the applicable fees and features of each before moving your retirement assets.

If you have not already selected your beneficiaries, or if you have experienced a life-changing event such as a marriage, divorce, birth of a child, or a death in the family, it’s time to consider your beneficiary designations. Fidelity’s Online Beneficiaries Service, offers a straightforward, convenient process that takes just minutes. To make your elections, click on the “Profile & Settings” icon in the upper right-hand corner, then select “Beneficiaries” and follow the online instructions.