485BPOS

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 4, 2012
File Nos. 333-76651, 811-09301

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
	FORM N-1A
	REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933	x
	Pre-Effective Amendment No.	o
	Post-Effective Amendment No. 62	x
	and/or
	REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT	x
	OF 1940
	Amendment No. 65	x
	(Check appropriate box or boxes)
	TIAA-CREF Funds
	(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)
	730 Third Avenue
	New York, New York 10017-3206
	(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
	Registrant’s Telephone Number, including Area Code: (800) 842-2733
	Stewart P. Greene, Esq.
	TIAA-CREF Funds
	730 Third Avenue
	New York, New York 10017-3206
	(Name and Address of Agent for Service)
	Copy to:
	Jeffrey S. Puretz, Esq.
	Dechert LLP
	1775 I Street, N.W.
	Washington, D.C. 20006-2401
Approximate Date of Proposed Public Offering:
As soon as practicable after effectiveness of the Registration Statement.

It is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate box):
o	Immediately upon filing pursuant to paragraph (b)
x	On October 4, 2012 pursuant to paragraph (b)
o	60 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(1)
o	75 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(2)
o	On (date) pursuant to paragraph (a)(1)
o	On (date) pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of rule 485
If appropriate, check the following box:
o	This post-effective amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed post-effective amendment.

Explanatory Note

This post-effective amendment on Form 485BPOS is being submitted for the sole purpose of furnishing, in Exhibit 101, XBRL Interactive Data for the related official 485APOS filing which was submitted to the Commission on September 18, 2012.

No other changes have been made to this Form 485BPOS. This Form 485BPOS does not reflect events that may have occurred subsequent to the original filing date, and does not modify or update any related disclosures made in the related official Form 485ABPOS.

Pursuant to Rule 406T of Regulation S-T, the Interactive Data Files on Exhibit 101 hereto are deemed not filed or part of a registration statement or prospectus for purposes of Sections 11 or 12 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, are deemed not filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and otherwise are not subject to liability under those sections.

SIGNATURES

          Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, TIAA-CREF Funds certifies that it meets all the requirements for effectiveness of this Registration Statement under Rule 485(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, duly authorized, in the City of New York, and State of New York on the 28 day of September, 2012.

TIAA-CREF FUNDS
By:	/s/ Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.
Name:	Roger E. Ferguson, Jr.
Title:	Principal Executive Officer and President

          Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, this registration statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

Signature	Title	Date
/s/ Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.	Principal Executive Officer and President	September 28, 2012
Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.	(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ Phillip G. Goff	Principal Financial Officer,	September 28, 2012
Phillip G. Goff	Principal Accounting Officer and Treasurer
	(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

SIGNATURE OF TRUSTEE	DATE	SIGNATURE OF TRUSTEE	DATE
*	September 28, 2012	*	September 28, 2012
Forrest Berkley		Thomas J. Kenny
*	September 28, 2012	*	September 28, 2012
Nancy Eckl		Bridget A. Macaskill
*	September 28, 2012	*	September 28, 2012
Michael A. Forrester		James M. Poterba
*	September 28, 2012	*	September 28, 2012
Howell E. Jackson		Maceo K. Sloan
*	September 28, 2012	*	September 28, 2012
Nancy L. Jacobs		Laura T. Starks
/s/ Stewart P. Greene	September 28, 2012
Stewart P. Greene
as attorney-in-fact

* Signed by Stewart P. Greene pursuant to powers of attorney previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

EXHIBIT LIST

101.	INS XBRL Instance Document
101.	SCH XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema
101.	DEF XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase
101.	LAB XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase
101.	PRE XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase

XML

TIAA-CREF Social Choice Bond Fund

TIAA-CREF Social Choice Bond Fund

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The Fund seeks a favorable long-term total return through income and capital appreciation as is consistent with preserving capital while giving special consideration to certain social criteria.

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)

Shareholder Fees TIAA-CREF Social Choice Bond Fund (USD $)	Retail Class	Retirement Class	Premier Class	Institutional Class
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)	none	none	none	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge	none	none	none	none
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributions	none	none	none	none
Redemption or Exchange Fee	none	none	none	none
Account Maintenance Fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)	15.00	none	none	none

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

Operating Expenses TIAA-CREF Social Choice Bond Fund		Retail Class	Retirement Class	Premier Class	Institutional Class
Management Fees		0.35%	0.35%	0.35%	0.35%
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Fees		0.25%		0.15%
Other Expenses	[1]	0.58%	0.73%	0.48%	0.48%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		1.18%	1.08%	0.98%	0.83%
Waivers and Expense Reimbursements	[2]	(0.43%)	(0.43%)	(0.43%)	(0.43%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		0.75%	0.65%	0.55%	0.40%

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 expense reimbursement agreement will remain in place through October 31, 2013 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:

Expense Example TIAA-CREF Social Choice Bond Fund (USD $)	Retail Class	Retirement Class	Premier Class	Institutional Class
1 Year	77	66	56	41
3 Years	332	301	269	222

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. Because the Fund is newly operational, it does not yet disclose its portfolio turnover rate in this prospectus.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in bonds. For these purposes, bonds include fixed-income securities of all types. The Fund primarily invests in a broad range of investment-grade bonds and fixed-income securities, including, but not limited to, U.S. Government securities, corporate bonds, taxable municipal securities and mortgage-backed or other asset backed-securities. The Fund may also invest in other fixed-income securities, including those of non-investment grade quality. Although the Fund may invest in fixed-income securities of any maturity, the duration of the Fund’s portfolio typically ranges within 15% of the duration of its benchmark index, the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. As of May 1, 2012 the duration of the index was 5.14 years. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.

The Fund is actively managed and does not rely exclusively on rating agencies when making investment decisions. Instead, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc. (“Advisors”) performs its own credit analysis, paying particular attention to economic trends and other market events. Subject to the social screens described below, individual securities or sectors are then overweighted or underweighted relative to the Fund’s benchmark index, when Advisors believes that the Fund can take advantage of what appear to be undervalued, overlooked or misunderstood issuers that offer the potential to boost returns above that of the index.

Fund investments in fixed-income securities issued by corporate entities or certain foreign governments are subject to certain environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) screening criteria provided by a vendor of the Fund, MSCI, Inc (“MSCI”). The ESG evaluation process generally favors corporate issuers that are: (i) strong stewards of the environment; (ii) committed to serving local communities and society generally; (iii) committed to higher labor standards for their own employees and those in the supply chain; (iv) dedicated to producing high-quality and safe products; and (v) managed in an exemplary and ethical manner.

The ESG evaluation process is conducted on an industry-specific basis and involves the identification of key performance indicators, which are given more or less relative weight. Concerns in one area do not automatically eliminate an issuer from being an eligible Fund investment. When ESG concerns exist, the evaluation process gives careful consideration to how companies address the risks and opportunities they face in the context of their sector or industry and relative to their peers. While Advisors may invest in corporate and foreign government issuers that meet these criteria, it is not required to invest in every issuer that meets these criteria. These social criteria, and any universe of investments that the Fund utilizes, are non-fundamental investment policies and may be changed without the approval of the Fund’s shareholders.

The Fund is not restricted from investing in any securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government or its agencies or instrumentalities.  Advisors considers investments in these securities to be consistent with the Fund’s investment and social objectives.

The Fund also invests in certain asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities and other securities that represent interests in assets such as pools of mortgage loans, automobile loans or credit card receivables. These securities are typically issued by legal entities established specifically to hold assets and to issue debt obligations backed by those assets. Asset-backed or mortgage-backed securities are normally created or “sponsored” by banks or other institutions or by certain government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Advisors does not take into consideration whether the sponsor of an asset-backed security in which the Fund invests meets the screening criteria. That is because asset-backed securities represent interests in pools of loans, and not of the ongoing business enterprise of the sponsor. It is therefore possible that the Fund could invest in an asset-backed or mortgage-backed security sponsored by a bank or other financial institution in which the Fund could not invest directly.

The Fund’s investments in mortgage-backed securities can include pass-through securities sold by private, governmental and government-related organizations and collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMOs”). Mortgage pass-through securities are created when mortgages are pooled together and interests in the pool are sold to investors. The cash flow from the underlying mortgages is “passed through” to investors in periodic principal and interest payments. CMOs are obligations that are fully collateralized directly or indirectly by a pool of mortgages from which payments of principal and interest are dedicated to the payment of principal and interest on the CMO.

The Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility Committee (the “CGSR Committee”) of the Board of Trustees of the Trust (“Board of Trustees”) reviews the criteria used to screen securities issued by corporate and foreign government issuers held by the Fund and approves the vendors of that service. Advisors seeks to ensure that the Fund’s investments in securities issued by corporate and foreign government issuers are consistent with its social criteria, but Advisors cannot guarantee that this will always be the case for every Fund investment issued by a corporate entity or by a foreign government or agency. Consistent with its responsibilities, the CGSR Committee will continue to review the ESG evaluation process. Investing on the basis of social criteria is qualitative and subjective by nature, and there can be no assurance that the social criteria utilized by the Fund’s social screen vendor(s) or any judgment exercised by the CGSR Committee or Advisors will reflect the beliefs or values of any particular investor.

Additionally, Advisors targets 10% of the Fund’s assets to be invested in fixed-income instruments that reflect proactive social investments. These investments provide direct exposure to socially beneficial issuers and/or individual projects. Within this proactive social investments allocation, the Fund seeks opportunities to invest in publicly traded fixed-income securities that finance initiatives in areas including affordable housing, community and economic development, renewable energy and climate change, and natural resources. These investments will be selected based on the same financial criteria used by Advisors in selecting the Fund’s other fixed-income investments.

The Fund may also use a trading technique called “mortgage rolls” or “dollar rolls” in which the Fund “rolls over” an investment in a mortgage-backed security before its settlement date in exchange for a similar security with a later settlement date.

The Fund may also engage in relative value trading, a strategy in which the Fund reallocates assets across different sectors and maturities. Relative value trading is designed to enhance the Fund’s returns but increases the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate.

The Fund may purchase and sell futures, options, swaps and other fixed-income derivative instruments to carry out the Fund’s investment strategies. The Fund may also invest in foreign securities, including emerging markets fixed-income securities and non-dollar denominated instruments. Under most circumstances, the Fund’s investments in fixed-income securities of foreign issuers constitute less than 20% of the Fund’s assets.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund, due to the nature of the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

· Social Criteria Risk—The risk that because the Fund’s social criteria exclude securities of certain issuers for nonfinancial reasons, the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that don’t use these criteria.

· 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.

· Prepayment Risk—The risk that during periods of falling interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans sooner than expected, forcing the 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 the Fund from reinvesting principal proceeds at higher interest rates and resulting in less income than potentially available.

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

· 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.

· 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 the Fund’s income.

· Fixed-Income Foreign Investment Risk—Investment in fixed-income securities or financial instruments of foreign issuers involves increased risks due to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments. These developments may impact the ability of a foreign debt issuer to make timely and ultimate payments on its debt obligations to the Fund or impair the Fund’s ability to enforce its rights against the foreign debt issuer. These risks are heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also be less liquid and more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers.

· Active Management Risk—The risk that Advisors’ strategy, investment selection or trading execution may cause the Fund to underperform relative to the benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

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

· Mortgage Roll Risk—The risk that Advisors will not correctly predict mortgage prepayments and interest rates, which will diminish the Fund’s performance.

· Downgrade Risk—The risk that securities are subsequently downgraded should Advisors and/or rating agencies believe the issuer’s business outlook or creditworthiness has deteriorated.

· Non-Investment-Grade Securities Risk—Issuers of non-investment-grade securities, which are usually called “high-yield” or “junk bonds,” are typically in weaker financial health and such securities can be harder to value and sell and their prices can be more volatile than more highly rated securities. While these securities generally have higher rates of interest, they also involve greater risk of default than do securities of a higher-quality rating.

· Illiquid Investments Risk—The risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for their fair market value.

· 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. The Fund may use futures and options, and the 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 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 is newly operational. After the Fund has completed one calendar year of operations, its performance information will become available.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa-cref.org.

[1] Other Expenses are estimates for the current fiscal year because the Fund is newly operational.

[2] Under the Fund's expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund's investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc., has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and extraordinary expenses) that exceed: (i) 0.75% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares; (ii) 0.65% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; (iii) 0.55% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.40% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least October 31, 2013, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

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Label

Element

Value

Risk/Return:

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Risk/Return [Heading]

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TIAA-CREF Social Choice Bond Fund

Objective [Heading]

rr_ObjectiveHeading

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

Objective, Primary [Text Block]

rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock

The Fund seeks a favorable long-term total return through income and capital appreciation as is consistent with preserving capital while giving special consideration to certain social criteria.

Expense [Heading]

rr_ExpenseHeading

FEES AND EXPENSES

Expense Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

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

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]

rr_ShareholderFeesCaption

SHAREHOLDER FEES (deducted directly from gross amount of transaction)

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

rr_OperatingExpensesCaption

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

Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination

2013-10-31

Portfolio Turnover [Heading]

rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]

rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

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. Because the Fund is newly operational, it does not yet disclose its portfolio turnover rate in this prospectus.

Other Expenses, New Fund, Based on Estimates [Text]

rr_OtherExpensesNewFundBasedOnEstimates

Other Expenses are estimates for the current fiscal year because the Fund is newly operational.

Expense Example [Heading]

rr_ExpenseExampleHeading

Example

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

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 expense reimbursement agreement will remain in place through October 31, 2013 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:

Strategy [Heading]

rr_StrategyHeading

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

Strategy Narrative [Text Block]

rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in bonds. For these purposes, bonds include fixed-income securities of all types. The Fund primarily invests in a broad range of investment-grade bonds and fixed-income securities, including, but not limited to, U.S. Government securities, corporate bonds, taxable municipal securities and mortgage-backed or other asset backed-securities. The Fund may also invest in other fixed-income securities, including those of non-investment grade quality. Although the Fund may invest in fixed-income securities of any maturity, the duration of the Fund’s portfolio typically ranges within 15% of the duration of its benchmark index, the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. As of May 1, 2012 the duration of the index was 5.14 years. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.

The Fund is actively managed and does not rely exclusively on rating agencies when making investment decisions. Instead, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc. (“Advisors”) performs its own credit analysis, paying particular attention to economic trends and other market events. Subject to the social screens described below, individual securities or sectors are then overweighted or underweighted relative to the Fund’s benchmark index, when Advisors believes that the Fund can take advantage of what appear to be undervalued, overlooked or misunderstood issuers that offer the potential to boost returns above that of the index.

Fund investments in fixed-income securities issued by corporate entities or certain foreign governments are subject to certain environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) screening criteria provided by a vendor of the Fund, MSCI, Inc (“MSCI”). The ESG evaluation process generally favors corporate issuers that are: (i) strong stewards of the environment; (ii) committed to serving local communities and society generally; (iii) committed to higher labor standards for their own employees and those in the supply chain; (iv) dedicated to producing high-quality and safe products; and (v) managed in an exemplary and ethical manner.

The ESG evaluation process is conducted on an industry-specific basis and involves the identification of key performance indicators, which are given more or less relative weight. Concerns in one area do not automatically eliminate an issuer from being an eligible Fund investment. When ESG concerns exist, the evaluation process gives careful consideration to how companies address the risks and opportunities they face in the context of their sector or industry and relative to their peers. While Advisors may invest in corporate and foreign government issuers that meet these criteria, it is not required to invest in every issuer that meets these criteria. These social criteria, and any universe of investments that the Fund utilizes, are non-fundamental investment policies and may be changed without the approval of the Fund’s shareholders.

The Fund is not restricted from investing in any securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government or its agencies or instrumentalities.  Advisors considers investments in these securities to be consistent with the Fund’s investment and social objectives.

The Fund also invests in certain asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities and other securities that represent interests in assets such as pools of mortgage loans, automobile loans or credit card receivables. These securities are typically issued by legal entities established specifically to hold assets and to issue debt obligations backed by those assets. Asset-backed or mortgage-backed securities are normally created or “sponsored” by banks or other institutions or by certain government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Advisors does not take into consideration whether the sponsor of an asset-backed security in which the Fund invests meets the screening criteria. That is because asset-backed securities represent interests in pools of loans, and not of the ongoing business enterprise of the sponsor. It is therefore possible that the Fund could invest in an asset-backed or mortgage-backed security sponsored by a bank or other financial institution in which the Fund could not invest directly.

The Fund’s investments in mortgage-backed securities can include pass-through securities sold by private, governmental and government-related organizations and collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMOs”). Mortgage pass-through securities are created when mortgages are pooled together and interests in the pool are sold to investors. The cash flow from the underlying mortgages is “passed through” to investors in periodic principal and interest payments. CMOs are obligations that are fully collateralized directly or indirectly by a pool of mortgages from which payments of principal and interest are dedicated to the payment of principal and interest on the CMO.

The Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility Committee (the “CGSR Committee”) of the Board of Trustees of the Trust (“Board of Trustees”) reviews the criteria used to screen securities issued by corporate and foreign government issuers held by the Fund and approves the vendors of that service. Advisors seeks to ensure that the Fund’s investments in securities issued by corporate and foreign government issuers are consistent with its social criteria, but Advisors cannot guarantee that this will always be the case for every Fund investment issued by a corporate entity or by a foreign government or agency. Consistent with its responsibilities, the CGSR Committee will continue to review the ESG evaluation process. Investing on the basis of social criteria is qualitative and subjective by nature, and there can be no assurance that the social criteria utilized by the Fund’s social screen vendor(s) or any judgment exercised by the CGSR Committee or Advisors will reflect the beliefs or values of any particular investor.

Additionally, Advisors targets 10% of the Fund’s assets to be invested in fixed-income instruments that reflect proactive social investments. These investments provide direct exposure to socially beneficial issuers and/or individual projects. Within this proactive social investments allocation, the Fund seeks opportunities to invest in publicly traded fixed-income securities that finance initiatives in areas including affordable housing, community and economic development, renewable energy and climate change, and natural resources. These investments will be selected based on the same financial criteria used by Advisors in selecting the Fund’s other fixed-income investments.

The Fund may also use a trading technique called “mortgage rolls” or “dollar rolls” in which the Fund “rolls over” an investment in a mortgage-backed security before its settlement date in exchange for a similar security with a later settlement date.

The Fund may also engage in relative value trading, a strategy in which the Fund reallocates assets across different sectors and maturities. Relative value trading is designed to enhance the Fund’s returns but increases the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate.

The Fund may purchase and sell futures, options, swaps and other fixed-income derivative instruments to carry out the Fund’s investment strategies. The Fund may also invest in foreign securities, including emerging markets fixed-income securities and non-dollar denominated instruments. Under most circumstances, the Fund’s investments in fixed-income securities of foreign issuers constitute less than 20% of the Fund’s assets.

Risk [Heading]

rr_RiskHeading

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund, due to the nature of the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

· Social Criteria Risk—The risk that because the Fund’s social criteria exclude securities of certain issuers for nonfinancial reasons, the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that don’t use these criteria.

· 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.

· Prepayment Risk—The risk that during periods of falling interest rates, borrowers may pay off their mortgage loans sooner than expected, forcing the 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 the Fund from reinvesting principal proceeds at higher interest rates and resulting in less income than potentially available.

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

· 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.

· 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 the Fund’s income.

· Fixed-Income Foreign Investment Risk—Investment in fixed-income securities or financial instruments of foreign issuers involves increased risks due to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments. These developments may impact the ability of a foreign debt issuer to make timely and ultimate payments on its debt obligations to the Fund or impair the Fund’s ability to enforce its rights against the foreign debt issuer. These risks are heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also be less liquid and more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers.

· Active Management Risk—The risk that Advisors’ strategy, investment selection or trading execution may cause the Fund to underperform relative to the benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

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

· Mortgage Roll Risk—The risk that Advisors will not correctly predict mortgage prepayments and interest rates, which will diminish the Fund’s performance.

· Downgrade Risk—The risk that securities are subsequently downgraded should Advisors and/or rating agencies believe the issuer’s business outlook or creditworthiness has deteriorated.

· Non-Investment-Grade Securities Risk—Issuers of non-investment-grade securities, which are usually called “high-yield” or “junk bonds,” are typically in weaker financial health and such securities can be harder to value and sell and their prices can be more volatile than more highly rated securities. While these securities generally have higher rates of interest, they also involve greater risk of default than do securities of a higher-quality rating.

· Illiquid Investments Risk—The risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for their fair market value.

· 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. The Fund may use futures and options, and the 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 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.

Risk Lose Money [Text]

rr_RiskLoseMoney

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund.

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]

rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading

PAST PERFORMANCE

Performance Narrative [Text Block]

rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

Performance information is not available for the Fund because the Fund is newly operational. After the Fund has completed one calendar year of operations, its performance information will become available.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa-cref.org.

Performance One Year or Less [Text]

rr_PerformanceOneYearOrLess

Performance information is not available for the Fund because the Fund is newly operational. After the Fund has completed one calendar year of operations, its performance information will become available.

Performance Availability Website Address [Text]

rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress

www.tiaa-cref.org

Retail Class

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributions

rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther

none

Redemption or Exchange Fee

rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption

none

Account Maintenance Fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)

rr_ShareholderFeeOther

15.00

Management Fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.35%

Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.25%

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.58%

^[1]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

1.18%

Waivers and Expense Reimbursements

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.43%)

^[2]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

0.75%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

77

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

332

Retirement Class

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributions

rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther

none

Redemption or Exchange Fee

rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption

none

Account Maintenance Fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)

rr_ShareholderFeeOther

none

Management Fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.35%

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.73%

^[1]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

1.08%

Waivers and Expense Reimbursements

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.43%)

^[2]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

0.65%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

66

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

301

Premier Class

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributions

rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther

none

Redemption or Exchange Fee

rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption

none

Account Maintenance Fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)

rr_ShareholderFeeOther

none

Management Fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.35%

Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.15%

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.48%

^[1]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

0.98%

Waivers and Expense Reimbursements

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.43%)

^[2]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

0.55%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

56

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

269

Institutional Class

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributions

rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther

none

Redemption or Exchange Fee

rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption

none

Account Maintenance Fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)

rr_ShareholderFeeOther

none

Management Fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.35%

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.48%

^[1]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

0.83%

Waivers and Expense Reimbursements

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.43%)

^[2]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

0.40%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

41

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

222

[1] Other Expenses are estimates for the current fiscal year because the Fund is newly operational.

[2] Under the Fund's expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund's investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc., has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and extraordinary expenses) that exceed: (i) 0.75% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares; (ii) 0.65% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; (iii) 0.55% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.40% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least October 31, 2013, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Sep. 21, 2012

XML

Document and Entity Information	0 Months Ended
	Sep. 18, 2012
Risk/Return:
Document Type	485BPOS
Document Period End Date	Sep. 18, 2012
Registrant Name	TIAA-CREF FUNDS
Central Index Key	0001084380
Amendment Flag	false
Document Creation Date	Sep. 18, 2012
Document Effective Date	Sep. 18, 2012
Prospectus Date	Sep. 21, 2012