Student Employee Benefits

Ohio State is proud to provide access to high-quality medical and retirement plans that can help support your health and financial goals.  When determining your student health and retirement options you must make a decision by the specified deadline.  If no action is taken, you will be automatically enrolled in a default plan.

• Default Medical: Student Health Insurance
• Default Retirement: OPERS Traditional Pension Plan for most student employees (STRS Defined Benefit Plan for Graduate Teaching Associates with a prior STRS account)

You should be aware of the following plan provisions:

• Exempting from the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) is an option for student employees.
• If you do not opt out within 30 days of your start date, you will automatically be enrolled in a state retirement system.
• Exempting from OPERS retirement is an irrevocable decision for the entire period that you are continuously employed and working as an eligible student employee at Ohio State.
• Graduate Teaching Associates who previously contributed to an STRS account may need to file both STRS and OPERS exemption forms in order to be exempt from state retirement.