Milestones
Revisit key moments in the history of your plan.
Still strong at 50
The most recent valuation of the plan found a funding ratio of 106.1 per cent. This means the money available for current and future pensions exceeds the projected costs of paying for those pensions.
Posted: August 1, 2019
Continued growth
The plan started with six employers in 1968. In 1975, there were 10 employers participating, and the number has steadily increased to the 23 employers participating today. Royal Roads University is the institution that joined most recently, in 1998.
Posted: July 2, 2019
Optimizing investments
In 1990, declining interest rates prompted a shift in the plan investment strategy. Over the next 25 years, plan assets increasingly diversified. Renewable resources was the newest asset class to join the plan’s investment portfolio, in 2014.
Posted: June 3, 2019
Online services
2002 and 2003 saw the launch of the online purchase of service cost estimator and pension estimator, respectively. The estimators were some of the plan’s first online service offerings. Today, members can apply to retire online.
Posted: May 7, 2019
Joint trusteeship
In 2000, the plan’s new-millennium revolution was initiating joint trusteeship: it was the first of BC’s public-sector pension plans to make the move. The College Pension Board of Trustees governs the plan; trustees are appointed by the four plan partners.
Posted: April 1, 2019
Changing demographics
In 1968, the plan’s 302 active members were made up of 17 per cent women and 83 per cent men. By 2017, plan demographics had shifted and women became the slight majority—of the plan’s 13,639 active members, 56 per cent were women and 44 per cent men.
Posted: March 5, 2019
Modernizing the plan
Five years ago this month, the plan announced its first major design changes since its inception. Effective January 1, 2016, the changes simplified and modernized the plan to address shifts in life expectancy, retirement age and employment patterns.
Posted: February 5, 2019
Keeping pace with inflation
In 1975, the plan paid out its first “cost-of-living supplementary allowances” (now called cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs ) to retirees. The inflation adjustment account was created in 1980; the first COLAs were paid from the account in 1982.
Posted: January 2, 2019
A shifting ratio: active to retired
In 1978, at one decade old, the ratio of active to retired plan members was 75 to 1. Since then, the ratio has dropped steadily. In 2017, there were 1.8 active plan members for each retired plan member.
Posted: December 4, 2018
The first retired member
In 1972, the first plan member retired and started collecting a pension. The annual amount was $529. One advantage of the plan is it’s a reliable source of income—the basic pension you receive in retirement will be paid for the rest of your lifetime.
Posted: November 13, 2018
Membership through the years
The number of active members topped 10,000 in 2004 and continued to increase until 2016. In 2017, the trend shifted: growth stopped and active membership declined slightly for the first time in the plan’s history.
Posted: October 15, 2018
Launching the plan
Fifty years ago, on September 1, 1968 the School District and Regional Colleges (Pensions) Act brought BC’s College Pension Plan into being with 302 members from six participating employers. Keep an eye on this space for more about your plan’s history.
Posted: September 4, 2018