Total

TIAA-CREF High-Yield Fund

TIAA-CREF High-Yield Fund

Investment objective

The Fund seeks total return primarily through high current income and, when consistent with its primary objective, capital appreciation.

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

SHAREHOLDER FEES (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees - TIAA-CREF High-Yield Fund - USD ($)	Institutional Class	Advisor Class	Premier Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class	Class W
Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases (percentage of offering price)	none	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge	none	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested dividends and other distributions	none	none	none	none	none	none
Redemption or exchange fee	none	none	none	none	none	none
Account maintenance fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)	none	none	none	none	$ 15.00	none

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

Annual Fund Operating Expenses - TIAA-CREF High-Yield Fund		Institutional Class	Advisor Class	Premier Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class	Class W
Management fees		0.34%	0.34%	0.34%	0.34%	0.34%	0.34%
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees		none	none	0.15%	none	0.25%	none
Other expenses		0.02%	0.13%	0.02%	0.27%	0.06%	0.02%
Total annual Fund operating expenses		0.36%	0.47%	0.51%	0.61%	0.65%	0.36%
Waivers and expense reimbursements	[1]	none	none	none	none	none	(0.36%)	[2]
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement		0.36%	0.47%	0.51%	0.61%	0.65%	none

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 fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements will each remain in place for the durations noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example - TIAA-CREF High-Yield Fund - USD ($)	Institutional Class	Advisor Class	Premier Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class	Class W
1 Year	$ 37	$ 48	$ 52	$ 62	$ 66	none
3 Years	116	151	164	195	208	none
5 Years	202	263	285	340	362	none
10 Years	$ 456	$ 591	$ 640	$ 762	$ 810	none

Portfolio turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs 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 fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 70% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

The Fund invests primarily in lower-rated, higher-yielding fixed-income securities, such as domestic and foreign corporate bonds, debentures, senior loans, loan participations and assignments and notes, as well as convertible and preferred securities. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in debt and other fixed-income securities rated lower than investment-grade (and their unrated equivalents) or other high-yielding debt securities. These are often called “junk bonds” and are speculative in nature. Most of these will be securities rated in the BB or B categories by S&P, or the Ba or B categories by Moody’s. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.

The Fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in the following types of instruments: payment-in-kind or deferred-interest obligations, defaulted securities, asset-backed securities, securities rated lower than B- or its equivalent by at least two rating agencies and securities having limited liquidity.

The Fund can make foreign investments, but the Fund does not expect such investments to exceed 20% of its assets under most circumstances. The Fund can also invest in U.S. Treasury and agency securities or other short-term instruments when other suitable investment opportunities are not available, or when Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”) would like to build the Fund’s liquidity.

Over long periods of time, a broadly diversified portfolio of lower-rated, higher-yielding securities is designed to, net of capital losses, provide a higher net return than a similarly diversified portfolio of higher-rated, lower-yielding securities of similar duration. Advisors attempts to minimize the risks of investing in lower-rated securities by:

· Doing its own credit analysis (independent of the rating agencies). The Fund buys securities of issuers with a balance of operational and financial risks that Advisors believes make it likely that such issuers will be able to meet their financial obligations;

· Constructing a portfolio of securities diversified by industry, maturity, duration and credit quality; and

· Buying or selling particular securities to seek to take advantage of anticipated changes and trends in the economy and financial markets.

Advisors’ judgment of the value of any particular security is a function of its experience with lower-rated securities, evaluation of general economic and securities market conditions and the financial condition of the security’s issuer. Under some market conditions, the Fund may sacrifice potential yield in order to adopt a defensive posture designed to preserve capital.

The Fund may purchase and sell futures, options, swaps, forwards and other fixed-income derivative instruments to carry out the Fund’s investment strategies.

The benchmark index for the Fund is the ICE BofA BB-B U.S. Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index.

Principal investment risks

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

· 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.

· Credit Risk (a type of Issuer Risk)—The risk that the issuer of fixed-income investments may not be able or willing, or may be perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) as not able or willing, to meet interest or principal payments when the payments become due.

· Non-Investment-Grade Securities Risk—Issuers of non-investment-grade securities, which are usually called “high-yield” or “junk bonds,” are typically speculative in nature, 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.

· 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 and during periods when prevailing interest rates are low or negative. Low interest rates may increase the Fund’s exposure to risks associated with rising interest rates. However, a Fund may be subject to heightened levels of interest rate risk due to rising interest rates (including a sharp rise in interest rates). In general, changing interest rates could have unpredictable effects on the markets and may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility.

· 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.

· 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.

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

· 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 as well as armed conflicts. 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 have lower overall liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections, and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards. The imposition of sanctions, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other restrictions by the United States or other governments may also negatively impact the Fund’s investments. The type and severity of sanctions and other measures that may be imposed could vary broadly in scope, and their impact is impossible to predict.

· 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.

· Illiquid Investments Risk—The risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for the value at which they are carried, if at all, or at any price within the desired time frame.

· Senior Loan Risk—Many senior loans present credit risk comparable to high-yield securities. The liquidation of the collateral backing a senior loan may not satisfy the borrower’s obligation to the Fund in the event of non-payment of scheduled interest or principal. Senior loans also expose the Fund to call risk and illiquid investments risk. The secondary market for senior loans can be limited. Trades can be infrequent and the values for senior loans may experience volatility. In some cases, negotiations for the sale or settlement of senior loans may require weeks to complete, which may impair the Fund’s ability to raise cash to satisfy redemptions, pay dividends, pay expenses or to take advantage of other investment opportunities in a timely manner. If an issuer of a senior loan prepays or redeems the loan prior to maturity, the

Fund will have to reinvest the proceeds in other senior loans or instruments that may pay lower interest rates.

· Floating and Variable Rate Securities Risk—Floating and variable rate securities provide for a periodic adjustment in the interest rate paid on the securities. The rate adjustment intervals may be regular and range from daily up to annually, or may be based on an event, such as a change in the prime rate. Floating and variable rate securities may be subject to greater liquidity risk than other debt securities, meaning that there may be limitations on the Fund’s ability to sell the securities at any given time. Such securities also may lose 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, options, single name or index credit default swaps, or forwards, 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.

· 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.

Please see the non-summary portion of the Prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above.

Past performance

The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of the Institutional Class of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year for the last ten years. Because the expenses vary across share classes, the performance of the Institutional Class may vary from the other share classes. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns of the Institutional Class for a calendar quarter during the full calendar-year periods covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for the Institutional, Advisor, Premier, Retirement, Retail and Class W classes over the applicable one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods ended December 31, 2021, and how those returns compare to those of the Fund’s benchmark index. After-tax performance is shown only for Institutional Class shares, and after-tax returns for the other classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Institutional Class shares.

The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by Advisors to waive or reimburse the Fund for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The benchmark index listed below is

unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in an index. The returns for the benchmark index reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

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

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL CLASS SHARES (%)† High-Yield Fund

^† The year-to-date return as of the most recent calendar quarter, which ended on June 30, 2022, was -13.34%.

Best quarter: 8.59%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. Worst quarter: -14.27%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS For the Periods Ended December 31, 2021

Average Annual Total Returns - TIAA-CREF High-Yield Fund	Label	1 Year	5 Years		10 Years		Inception Date
Institutional Class		4.79%	5.07%		5.97%		Mar. 31, 2006
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions		2.81%	2.79%		3.46%
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales		2.81%	2.86%		3.49%
Advisor Class		4.78%	4.97%		5.90%	[1]	Dec. 04, 2015
Premier Class		4.74%	4.93%		5.83%		Sep. 30, 2009
Retirement Class		4.64%	4.83%		5.72%		Mar. 31, 2006
Retail Class		4.60%	4.80%		5.68%		Mar. 31, 2006
Class W		5.15%	5.29%	[1]	6.08%	[1]	Sep. 28, 2018
ICE BofA BB-B U.S. Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index	ICE BofA BB-B U.S. Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index	4.58%	6.04%		6.54%

Current performance of the Fund’s shares may be higher or lower than that shown above.

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect during the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(a), 401(k) or 403(b) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). After-tax returns are shown for only one class, and after-tax returns for other classes will vary.

[1] Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC, 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) 0.40% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares; (ii) 0.55% of average daily net assets for Advisor Class shares; (iii) 0.55% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; (iv) 0.65% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; (v) 0.75% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares; and (vi) 0.40% of average daily net assets for Class W shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least July 31, 2023, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

[2] Teachers Advisors, LLC has contractually agreed to waive and/or reimburse Class W’s Management fees and Other expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired fund fees and expenses, Trustee expenses and extraordinary expenses) in their entirety. Teachers Advisors, LLC expects these waiver and/or reimbursement arrangements to remain in effect indefinitely, unless changed or terminated with approval of the Board of Trustees.

[1] The performance shown for the Advisor Class and Class W that is prior to their respective inception dates is based on performance of the Institutional Class. The performance for these periods has not been restated to reflect the actual expenses of the Advisor Class and Class W. If these actual expenses had been reflected, the performance of these two classes shown for these periods would have been different because the Advisor Class and Class W have different expenses than the Institutional Class.