fromtheearth
New member
Hi, I’m an international PhD student working at a university. I have received my first month’s salary today which I realised was much lower than expected - it’s because they auto-enrolled me into the USS pension scheme. I asked about personal vs employer contributions so apparently I pay 9.8% of gross income while the university pays 21.6%.
I was ready to opt out before I heard the university contribution - sounds super high. I worked before and my employer was contributing the legal minimum.
I’m wondering if I should stay since:
Edit: overwhelmed by the response - thanks everyone! I guess I shouldn’t opt out. I think I explained myself a bit poorly - I plan to stay in the UK for some more years but not necessarily in the university. So the USS benefits might only be for one year.
I was ready to opt out before I heard the university contribution - sounds super high. I worked before and my employer was contributing the legal minimum.
I’m wondering if I should stay since:
- I’m being paid peanuts (if you know the universities, you know) so losing 10% of my income really requires me to use my savings to survive in London - so would that be logical?
- i might not stay in the uk much longer (maybe 5-10 years more) so not sure building a pension here is very logical if I’m living elsewhere. Also sounds like I can’t take my pension to my home country due to there not being an approved pension provider back home.
Edit: overwhelmed by the response - thanks everyone! I guess I shouldn’t opt out. I think I explained myself a bit poorly - I plan to stay in the UK for some more years but not necessarily in the university. So the USS benefits might only be for one year.