Service credit is credit for time worked. It is one of the factors used to calculate when you can retire and how much your annuity will be. As a state agency employee, you earn credit for each eligible payroll period in which you work and a retirement contribution is made. That is, you earn credit every month money from your paycheck is deposited into the ERS Retirement Trust Fund.

You can meet ERS retirement eligibility by earning and/or purchasing service credit in the following ways.

Earned Service Credit

• Optional Retirement Program (ORP)
  Contribute to the ORP while working at a State of Texas higher education institution. 
• Proportionate Retirement Program (PRP)
  Contribute to another retirement system that participates in the PRP
• Sick and Annual Leave
  Have unused leave balances when you retire from a State of Texas agency, if you were hired before September 1, 2009. (Employees hired on or after September 1, 2009 cannot use sick or annual leave balances to meet ERS retirement eligibility.)
• TRS and ERS

Purchased Service Credit

• Additional Service Credit (ASC)
  Purchase up to three years of ASC if you have at least 10 years of earned ERS service credit, not including military and unused sick/annual leave.
• Military Service Credit
  Purchase up to 60 months of active duty United States military service credit.
• Waiting Period Service Credit
  This is the time early in your state employment when you didn’t contribute to ERS. You can buy this time to help you retire earlier and increase your monthly payment.
• Withdrawn (Refunded) Service Credit
  If you worked for the State of Texas before and withdrew your retirement account when you left, you can buy back the service credit you withdrew. (Please note that if you returned to work for the State of Texas after September 1, 2009, buying withdrawn service credit will not reinstate you to the retirement group (PDF) you were in before you withdrew your account. You will stay in the retirement group based on your most recent date of hire.)