Former state university employee Phillip Schaefer, who retired in September 2018, saved $74,323 toward a pension over 14 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Schaefer would collect as much as $1.5 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Sangamon Sun.

The projection assumes Schaefer received $31,560 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Schaefer will have already received $97,549 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.