Financial Planning Education 101: 10 Standout Schools

Every recognized profession has its top colleges. Medical and law schools in the U.S. date back to the 18th century. As a much more recent profession, financial planning has spent much of the last four decades developing its own system of education and professional certification. As many of the current crop of planners near retirement, they don't have to look too far to figure out where the next generation will come from. The answer is in all the schools. Not only has the number of programs been on the rise - up 15% since the past year and a half, according to the CFP Board - but enrollment in the programs themselves has generally been increasing, too. With so many CFP Board-registered programs out there, Financial Planning focused on 10 worthy institutions. We talked to veteran planners and industry leaders to get a sense of which 10 programs belonged in an overview. Our list is not a ranking. Like this survey itself, the information we've gathered is just a starting point. Think of it as Financial Planning Education 101, an introduction.

Location: Greenwood Village, Colo.

CFP Board-registered programs: 2 - online certificate program and online graduate program for Master of Science degree in Personal Financial Planning

Enrollment: 5,071 in CFP certificate program; 469 in M.S. planning program

Students who sat for CFP exams so far in 2011: 969

Pass rate of those students: 75%

Faculty: 43 (11 full-time and 32 adjunct)

Tuition: CFP certification program $3,885, including materials and fees

M.S. program: $7,140

Web address: cffpinfo.com

Location: Athens, Ga.

CFP Board-registered programs: 5 - College of Family and Consumer Sciences has an undergraduate degree program, master's and doctoral program; Terry College of Business has 2 certificate programs, online and classroom (off campus)

Enrollment: 100 undergraduate, 12 master's, 6 doctoral, several hundred in Terry College online program and 50 in the classroom program

Students who sat for CFP exams so far in 2011: 10 in degree programs, 51 in certificate

Pass rate of those students: 2 graduate students, pass rate 100%; 8 undergraduate students, pass rate 50%; 75% for certificate

Faculty: 5 in financial planning (3 full-time professors, 2 adjunct faculty), 8 supporting full-time professors (3 professors of housing and 5 in consumer economics); 12 instructors for Terry College certificate programs

Tuition: Graduate tuition per semester for in state: $3,600; out of state: $10,950. Undergraduate in state: $3,641; $12,746 nonresident. Most doctoral students and master's students receive graduate assistantships with tuition waiver and stipend. Classroom certificate program is $4,950, or $995 for a single class; online program is $1,995, or $600 for a single class

Web address: financialplanning.uga.edu