To help offset the impact of higher than usual inflation, the UC Board of Regents voted to approve an ad hoc cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for some UCRP benefit recipients. This adjustment will apply to benefit recipients whose purchasing power has fallen most significantly: those with a retirement date before July 2, 1991.

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Every year, the UCRP provides a COLA to monthly retirement benefits based on a formula that factors in — but does not always match — increases in the Consumer Price Index during the previous year. Historically, the Regents have adopted one-time ad hoc COLAs when, after multiple years of inflation greater than the annual COLA, some annuitants’ purchasing power has dropped below 75%.

To minimize the need for additional measures in the future, the Regents approved an ad hoc COLA, effective July 1, 2022, to restore annuitants’ purchasing power to 85%. See below for an overview of the COLA for each group of eligible benefit recipients.

Ad hoc COLA by retirement date to restore purchasing power to 85%

Retirement Date

Ad Hoc COLA

Before July 2, 1985

13.64%

July 2, 1985, to July 1, 1986

13.12%

July 2, 1986, to July 1, 1987

12.04%

July 2, 1987, to July 1, 1988

9.76%

July 2, 1988, to July 1, 1989

6.97%

July 2, 1989, to July 1, 1990

4.04%

July 2, 1990, to July 1, 1991

1.38%

The ad hoc COLA will appear in benefit payments beginning with the payment that will be made on August 1, 2022.