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Lake County Gazette

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Former state university employee Kessler paid in $108K to pension fund, could collect $2.36M in retirement

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Former state university employee Melanie Kessler, who retired in October 2017, saved $108,486 toward a pension over 29 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Kessler would collect as much as $2.36 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Lake County Gazette.

The projection assumes Kessler received $49,551 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Kessler will have already received $153,158 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.

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