SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

OCTOBER 1, 2011

TIAA-CREF LIFECYCLE 2055 FUND

of the TIAA-CREF Funds

Class Ticker: Institutional TTRIX Retirement TTRLX Premier TTRPX

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus and other information about the Fund online at www.tiaa-cref.org/lc_pro. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800 223-1200 or by sending an e-mail request to disclosure@tiaa-cref.org. The Fund’s prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), each dated October 1, 2011, as subsequently supplemented, and the sections of the Fund’s shareholder report dated May 31, 2011 from “Portfolio of Investments” through “Notes to Financial Statements,” are incorporated into this Summary Prospectus by reference and may be obtained free of charge at the website, phone number or e-mail address noted above.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The Lifecycle 2055 Fund seeks high total return over time through a combination of capital appreciation and income.

FEES AND EXPENSES

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund.

SHAREHOLDER FEES (deducted directly from gross amount of transaction)

	Retirement Class	Premier Class	Institutional Class
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)	0%	0%	0%
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge	0%	0%	0%
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributions	0%	0%	0%
Redemption or Exchange Fee	0%	0%	0%
Maximum Account Fee	0%	0%	0%

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund ■Summary Prospectus     1

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

		Retirement Class	Premier Class	Institutional Class
Management Fees		0.10%	0.10%	0.10%
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Fees1		0.05%	0.15%	—
Other Expenses2		0.92%	0.67%	0.67%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses3		0.47%	0.47%	0.47%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		1.54%	1.39%	1.24%
Waivers and Expense Reimbursements4,5		0.82%	0.77%	0.77%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		0.72%	0.62%	0.47%
1	The Retirement Class of the Fund has adopted a Distribution (12b-1) Plan that compensates the Fund’s distributor, Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc. (“TPIS”), for its expenses in providing distribution, promotional and/or shareholder services to Retirement Class shares at the annual rate of 0.05% of average daily net assets attributable to Retirement Class shares. In addition, TPIS has contractually agreed not to seek payment of this fee under the Plan for Retirement Class shares through September 30, 2012, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.
2	Other Expenses are estimates for the current fiscal year.
3	“Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses” are the Fund’s proportionate amount of the expenses of any investment companies or pools in which it invests. These expenses are not paid directly by Fund shareholders. Instead, Fund shareholders bear these expenses indirectly because they reduce Fund performance. Because “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses” are included in the chart above, the Fund’s operating expenses here will not correlate with the expenses included in the Financial Highlights in this Prospectus and the Fund’s May 31, 2011 annual report.
4	Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc. (“Advisors”), has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and extraordinary expenses) that exceed: (i) 0.25% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; (ii) 0.15% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iii) 0.00% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least September 30, 2012, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.
5	Advisors has contractually agreed to waive the Fund’s Management Fees equal to, on an annual basis, 0.10%. This waiver will remain in effect through September 30, 2012, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement agreement will remain in place through September 30, 2012 but that there will be no waiver or expense reimbursement agreement in effect thereafter. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

2     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund

	Retirement Class		Premier Class		Institutional Class
1 Year	$	74	$	63	$	48
3 Years	$	406	$	364	$	317

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the one-month fiscal period ended May 31, 2011, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 1% (not annualized) of the average value of its portfolio.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests in Institutional Class shares of other funds of the TIAA-CREF Funds and potentially in other investment pools or investment products (collectively, the “Underlying Funds”). In general, the Fund is designed for investors who have an approximate target retirement year in mind, and the Fund’s investments are adjusted from more aggressive to more conservative over time as the target retirement year approaches and for approximately seven to ten years afterwards. The Fund invests in Underlying Funds according to an asset allocation strategy designed for investors retiring or planning to retire within a few years of 2055.

The Fund expects to allocate approximately 90.00% of its assets to equity Underlying Funds and 10.00% of its assets to fixed-income Underlying Funds. These allocations represent targets for equity and fixed-income asset classes. Target allocations will change over time and actual allocations may vary up to 10% from the targets. The target allocations along the investment glidepath, illustrated in the chart below, gradually become more conservative, moving to target allocations of approximately 50% equity/50% fixed-income in The Fund’s target retirement year of 2055 and reaching the Fund’s final target allocation of approximately 40% equity/60% fixed-income at some point from 2062 to 2065. Within the equity and fixed-income asset classes, the Fund allocates its investments to particular market sectors (U.S. equity, international equity, fixed-income, short-term fixed-income and inflation-protected assets) represented by various Underlying Funds. These market sector allocations may vary by up to 10% from the Fund’s target market sector allocations. The Fund’s current target market sector allocations for June 30, 2012, which will change over time, are approximately as follows: U.S. Equity: 67.50%; International Equity: 22.50%; Fixed-Income: 10.00%; Short-Term Fixed-Income: 0.00%; and Inflation-Protected Assets: 0.00%.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund ■Summary Prospectus     3

The Fund’s target market sector allocations to Underlying Funds may include the TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Fund, Large-Cap Growth Fund, Large-Cap Value Fund, Mid-Cap Growth Fund, Mid-Cap Value Fund, Small-Cap Equity Fund, Enhanced Large-Cap Growth Index Fund and Enhanced Large-Cap Value Index Fund (U.S. Equity); International Equity Fund, Enhanced International Equity Index Fund and Emerging Markets Equity Fund (International Equity); Bond Fund, Bond Plus Fund and High-Yield Fund (Fixed-Income); Short-Term Bond Fund and Money Market Fund (Short-Term Fixed-Income); and Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (Inflation-Protected Assets).

Additional or replacement Underlying Funds for each market sector, as well as additional or replacement market sectors, may be included when making future allocations if Advisors believes that such Underlying Funds and/or market sectors are appropriate in light of the Fund’s desired levels of risk and potential return at the particular time. The Fund’s portfolio management team may also add a new market sector if it believes that will help to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The relative allocations among Underlying Funds within a market sector may be changed at any time without notice to shareholders. If 10% or more of a Fund’s assets are expected to be invested in any Underlying Fund or market sectors not listed above, shareholders will receive prior notice of such change.

The Fund’s asset class allocations, market sector allocations within each asset class, and Underlying Fund allocations within each market sector, as of June 30, 2011, are listed in the chart below. These allocations will change over time.

Asset Class	Allocation	Market Sector	Allocation	Underlying Funds	Allocation
EQUITY	89.96%	U.S. Equity	67.58%	·Large-Cap Growth Fund	12.57%
				·Enhanced Large-Cap Growth Index Fund	12.53%
				·Enhanced Large-Cap Value Index Fund	12.28%
				·Large-Cap Value Fund	12.18%
				·Growth & Income Fund	10.51%
				·Small-Cap Equity Fund	5.64%
				·Mid-Cap Value Fund	0.97%
				·Mid-Cap Growth Fund	0.90%
		International Equity	22.38%	·Enhanced International Index Fund	8.42%
				·International Equity Fund	8.30%
				·Emerging Markets Equity Fund	5.66%
FIXED-INCOME	10.04%	Fixed-Income	10.04%	·Bond Plus Fund	6.01%
				·High-Yield Fund	4.03%
Total	100.00%	100.00%		100.00%

The following chart shows how the investment glidepath for the Fund is expected to gradually move the Fund’s target allocations over time between the different target market sector allocations. The actual market sector allocations

4     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund

of the Fund may differ from this chart. The Fund seeks to achieve its final target market sector allocations approximately seven to ten years following the target date.

The Fund is designed to accommodate investors who invest in a fund up to their target retirement date, and plan to make gradual systematic withdrawals in retirement. In addition, investors should note that the Fund will continue to have a significant level of equity exposure up to, through and after its target retirement date, and this exposure could cause significant fluctuations in the value of the Fund depending on the performance of the equity markets generally.

Approximately seven to ten years after the Fund enters its target retirement year, the Board of Trustees may authorize the merger of the Fund into the Lifecycle Retirement Income Fund or other similar fund. Fund shareholders will receive prior notice of any such merger. The Lifecycle Retirement Income Fund is designed to maintain a relatively stable allocation among the Underlying Funds reflecting the resting point on the glidepath described in the chart above. More detailed information about the Lifecycle Retirement Income Fund is contained in the prospectus for that fund.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund or the Underlying Funds typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

·Asset Allocation Risk—The risk that the Fund may not achieve its target allocations. In addition, there is the risk that the asset allocations may not achieve the desired risk-return characteristic or that the selection of Underlying Funds and the allocations among them will result in the Fund underperforming other similar funds or cause an investor to lose money.

·Equity Investments Risk—A significant portion of the assets of the Fund is allocated to Underlying Funds investing primarily in equity investments. Therefore, the value of the Fund may increase or decrease as a result of its

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund ■Summary Prospectus     5

indirect interest in equity investments. Equity investments generally have greater price volatility than fixed income instruments.

·Market Risk—The risk that market prices of investments held by an Underlying Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including changing economic, political or market conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole.

·Issuer Risk (often called Financial Risk)—The risk that the issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of its financial instruments over short or extended periods of time.

·Style Risk—The risk that use of a particular investing style (such as growth or valueinvesting) may fall out of favor in the marketplace for various periods of time and result in underperformance relative to the broader market sector or significant declines in the value of an Underlying Funds’ portfolio securities.

·Risks of Growth Investing—The risks that growth stocks can perform differently from the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Growth stocks can also be more volatile, and experience sharper price fluctuations, than other stocks.

·Risks of Value Investing—The risks that value stocks can perform differently from the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks can also continue to be undervalued by the market for long periods of time.

·Large-Cap Risk—The risk that large-capitalization companies are more mature and may grow more slowly than the economy as a whole and tend to go in and out of favor based on market and economic conditions.

·Mid-Cap Risk—The risk that the stocks of mid-capitalization companies often have greater price volatility, lower trading volume and less liquidity than the stocks of larger, more established companies.

·Small-Cap Risk—The risk that the stocks of small-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility than large- or mid-sized companies because small-cap companies are often newer or less established than larger companies and are likely to have more limited resources, products and markets. Securities of small-cap companies are often less liquid than securities of larger companies as a result of there being a smaller market for their securities.

·Foreign Investment Risk—Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments and can result in greater price volatility and perform differently from financial

6     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund

instruments of U.S. issuers. This risk may be heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also be less liquid and more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers.

·Emerging Markets Risk—The risk of foreign investment often increases in countries with emerging markets. For example, these countries may have more unstable governments than developed countries, and their economies may be based on only a few industries. Because their financial markets may be very small, share prices of financial instruments in emerging market countries may be volatile and difficult to determine. Financial instruments of issuers in these countries may be less liquid than those of issuers in more developed countries. In addition, foreign investors such as the Fund are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many such countries.

·Enhanced Index Risk—Certain Underlying Funds that are enhanced index funds may also underperform their benchmark indices due to differences between the investments of the Underlying Funds and their respective benchmark indices.

·Quantitative Analysis Risk—The risk that stocks selected by the Fund’s or an Underlying Fund’s investment adviser using quantitative modeling and analysis could perform differently from the market as a whole.

·Fixed-Income Investments Risk—A significant portion of the assets of the Fund is allocated to Underlying Funds investing primarily in fixed-income investments. Therefore, the value of the Fund may increase or decrease as a result of its indirect interest in fixed-income investments.

·Income Volatility Risk—The risk that the level of current income from a portfolio of fixed-income investments declines in certain interest rate environments.

·Credit Risk (a type of Issuer Risk)—The risk that the issuer of bonds may not be able or willing to meet interest or principal payments when the bonds become due.

·Market Volatility, Liquidity and Valuation Risk (types of Market Risk)—The risk that volatile or dramatic reductions in trading activity make it difficult for an Underlying Fund to properly value its investments and that an Underlying Fund may not be able to purchase or sell an investment at an attractive price, if at all.

·Call Risk—The risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer may call (or repay) a fixed-income security prior to maturity, resulting in a decline in an Underlying Fund’s income.

·Interest Rate Risk (a type of Market Risk)—The risk that increases in interest rates can cause the prices of fixed-income investments to decline. This risk is heightened to the extent the Fund invests in longer duration fixed-income investments.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund ■Summary Prospectus     7

·Prepayment Risk—The risk that during periods of falling interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans sooner than expected, forcing an Underlying Fund to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates and resulting in a decline in income.

·Extension Risk—The risk that during periods of rising interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans later than expected, preventing an Underlying Fund from reinvesting principal proceeds at higher interest rates and resulting in less income than potentially available.

·Special Risks for Inflation-Indexed Bonds—The risk that interest payments on, or market values of, inflation-indexed investments decline because of a decline in inflation (or deflation) or changes in investors’ and/or the market’s inflation expectations. In addition, inflation indices may not reflect the true rate of inflation.

·Active Management Risk—The risk that the strategy, investment selection or trading execution of Advisors could cause the Fund or an Underlying Fund to underperform its benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

·Underlying Fund Risk—The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective will depend upon the ability of the Underlying Funds to achieve their investment objectives. There can be no guarantee that any Underlying Fund will achieve its investment objective.

·Derivatives Risk—The risks associated with investing in derivatives may be different and greater than the risks associated with directly investing in the underlying securities and other instruments. An Underlying Fund may use futures and options, and an Underlying Fund may also use more complex derivatives such as swaps that might present liquidity, credit and counterparty risk. When investing in derivatives, the Fund may lose more than the principal amount invested.

There can be no assurances that the Fund or an Underlying Fund's will achieve its investment objective. You should not consider the Fund to be a complete investment program. Please see the non-summary portion of the prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above.

PAST PERFORMANCE

Performance information is not available for the Fund because the Fund has less than one calendar year of performance.

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Investment Adviser. The Fund’s investment adviser is Teachers Advisors, Inc.

Portfolio Managers. The following persons manage the Fund on a day-to-day basis:

8     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund

Name:	Hans Erickson, CFA	John Cunniff, CFA	Pablo Mitchell
Title:	Managing Director	Managing Director	Director
Experience on Fund:	since 2011	since 2011	since 2011

PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES

Retirement Class and Premier Class shares are generally available for purchase through employee benefit plans or other types of savings plans or accounts. Institutional Class shares are available for purchase directly from the Fund by certain eligible investors or through financial intermediaries.

·There is no minimum initial or subsequent investment for Retirement Class shares. Retirement Class shares are primarily offered through employer-sponsored employee benefit plans.

·There is a $100 million aggregate plan size and $1 million initial minimum plan-level investment requirement for Premier Class shares. Premier Class shares are primarily offered through certain financial intermediaries and employer-sponsored employee benefit plans.

·The minimum initial investment is $2 million and the minimum subsequent investment is $1,000 for Institutional Class shares, unless an investor purchases shares by or through financial intermediaries that have entered into an appropriate agreement with the Fund or its affiliates.

Redeeming Shares. You can redeem (sell) your shares of the Fund at any time. If your shares are held through a third party, please contact that person for applicable redemption requirements. If your shares are held directly with the Fund, contact the Fund directly in writing or by telephone.

Exchanging Shares. You can exchange shares of the Fund for the same class of shares of any other funds offered by the TIAA-CREF Funds at any time, subject to the limitations described in the Market Timing/Excessive Trading Policy section in the statutory prospectus or any limitations imposed by a third party when shares are held through a third party.

TAX INFORMATION

The Fund intends to make distributions to shareholders that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions made to tax-exempt shareholders or shareholders who hold Fund shares in a tax-deferred account are generally not subject to income tax in the current year, but redemptions made from tax-deferred accounts may be subject to income tax.

TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund ■Summary Prospectus     9

PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER
FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARY COMPENSATION

If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and/or its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

10     Summary Prospectus■TIAA-CREF Lifecycle 2055 Fund

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