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[LOGO]        TEACHERS INSURANCE AND 
              ANNUITY ASSOCIATION 
     
              730 Third Avenue
              New York, NY 10017-3206 



                                   SUPPLEMENT
                               DATED JULY 8, 1998
                      TO THE PROSPECTUS DATED APRIL 1, 1998
                 FOR THE INDIVIDUAL DEFERRED VARIABLE ANNUITIES
                    FUNDED THROUGH TIAA SEPARATE ACCOUNT VA-1


The first paragraph of the Section entitled "Investment Practices - Investment
Mix" on page 9 is modified as follows:

The separate account attempts to track the U.S. stock market as a whole by
investing substantially all of its assets in stocks included in the Russell
3000(R) Index (See "The Russell 3000 Index," below). The separate account
doesn't try to match the Russell 3000 precisely by holding all 3,000 stocks.
Rather, we use sampling to try to emulate the Index's broad investment
characteristics. The portfolio won't be managed in the traditional sense of
including individual securities in the portfolio based on economic, financial,
and market analysis. This means that a company can remain in the portfolio even
if it performs poorly. We will, however, use proprietary quantitative scoring
and trading techniques to attempt to slightly outperform the Russell 3000 Index.