I work for a public college and I have a 401a, a 457 and a 403b. The 401a is where my employer contributions and my mandatory contributions go. I can't change either of those amounts. Not sure exactly what the situation is with your 401a though - maybe you can't elect to contribute to a 401a? Could be a tax code thing.
The 457 and 403b are where my optional contributions go - do you have a 403b available? If so, believe it or not you can contribute $18K pretax to BOTH the 457 and the 403b. Sounds like your 457 is just behaving like a 401k with no employer match. You should max it out if you can.
Enjoy the 457 - those things are awesome. No early withdrawals penalties, although like a 401k you will owe income tax on withdrawals.
+1 to all of this.
Simple IRA, solo 401(k), 401(k), 403 (b), and maybe others I am missing, all have combined limits. 457 has its own limit.
401(a)are different from other plans, in that, employers can
legally mandate an employee contribution, whether 0 or a non zero percent and are unadjustable by the employee.
The only penalty-free withdrawal rule for traditional 457's are that you must separate first from your employer. If 457 is roth, you must be of retirement age and account must be >5 yo.
edit: Also, 457s were at one point nonqualified according to IRS. Can someone verify?
I have also seen cases where in-service withdrawals of 457s are possible provided you meet a minimum of time since last contribution and a withdrawal $ amount. Anyone know the IRA rules on this or is this specific to custodians?