This is the first time the college has offered early retirement packages, says Krislov. Since about 90 percent of faculty is tenured, many end up working way past the traditional retirement age of 65. “[The buyouts] allow us to have more predictability in knowing who is going to be working and until when,” he says.
To take the buyout, employees must be at least 52 years old and must have worked at Oberlin for at least 10 years. The college will then pay their salaries for a year after they leave and waive health insurance premiums during that time.
And, no, I don't believe it's "the first time the college has offered early retirement packages." It might be the first time it's been publicized and universal, but I'll vote for Trump if they've never paid someone to leave before. It's what these colleges do.
College professors do manage to hold on to a few job perks that are unobtainable fantasies for most people who aren't, say, top management of large corporations or college football colleges. One year free salary sounds like a pretty good deal! Fine. But as I said it really isn't enough to encourage anyone to actually retire earlier than they would have anyway.
...ah, on first read I missed that despite the focus of the article on faculty, it's really administrators and staff members (also eligible) who are the bulk of the retirements. That makes more sense.
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