Prairie State Wire

Former state university employee Goebel Rowe, who retired in January 2017, saved $26,022 toward a pension over 7 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Rowe would collect as much as $343,764, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Prairie State Wire.

The projection assumes Rowe received $7,225 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 4 years of retirement, Rowe will have already received $30,227 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.