I have a 403(b) retirement plan through Voya and I work for a school district. How can I invest in stocks/ETFs instead of just mutual funds?

As everyone has said here, you cannot do it through your 403b. I also work for a school district, so I have a 403b as well. You cannot touch that money until you retire from the school system in your state or you can borrow some of it in case of an emergency. Ive never really considered using that money for investing purposes, but Im glad I havent and remained clueless of that possible scenario. It is a great idea to keep the 403b seperate from your want of buying stocks anyway because you may fall on hard times if your investments dont work out. If they dont, at least you have your 403b funds in tact for when you retire. You dont have to start with 30k or whatever amount your 403b is worth. Rome wasnt built in a day, so dont think you have to start investing with a large amount of money. Good luck to you.

As others have mentioned, you can't do it if your employer or administrator does not allow investing in securities outside their plan.  

On the other hand, you could set up a PRIVATE self-directed IRA which would allow you to do it IF your income and a few other matters qualify you to do so.  A self-directed IRA is completely independent of your employer's program.  You need to contact a brokerage house (or financial advisor) to determine whether you qualify under the law.

Employer based retirement plans - 401K, 403B, 457 etc

can only invest in the options that the employer has allowed you to invest in.

No clue why you think mutual funds don't contain stocks.

ETFs are pretty much the same thing a mutual fund; the main difference is that they trade in real time.

If you're asking how you can choose your own INDIVIDUAL stocks, the answer is to use funds outside your employer's retirement plan.

You can only invest in the funds your plan offers. Stocks would not be offered, but you might find some EFTs or mutual funds that hold EFTs in their offerings.

You are investing in stocks, you just don't pick the specific stocks. If you want to pick your stocks, you have to use funds other than what is in the 403(b).

The only way would be to open a separate investment account (retirement or otherwise) outside of your work sponsored plan.

With 403b's (and 401k's), you are limited to the investments that the plan chooses.