COLLEGE THAT DROPPED OUT RE-ENROLLS IN CFP BUSINESS: ADELPHI PLANNING COURSES, STARTED IN ’70S, BEING REBORN

A pioneer in financial planning education that dropped out of the field in the early 1990s is looking to resurrect its program.

The decision by Adelphi University is part of an effort by new leadership of the beleaguered Long Island, N.Y., institution to revive potentially lucrative programs that have been neglected or died out.

Several thousand students graduated from Adelphi’s financial planning certificate program before it folded early this decade – just in time to miss an unprecedented boom in adviser education that added XX,000 new certified financial planners to the field.

Last year, all 18 trustees of the 6,000-student university were removed by state overseers for allegedly failing to prevent then-President Peter Diamandopoulos from pursuing policies harmful to the school and rewarding him instead with salary and benefits of more than $800,000, which made him one of the country’s highest paid university presidents.

“The previous administration believed the program no longer conformed to the mission of the university as they saw it,” says Peter Katopes, dean of Adelphi’s University College, the school’s continuing education arm.

A new program could include a bachelor’s degree track along with courses required to attain the certified financial planner (CFP) professional designation.

But Adelphi, located in New York City’s most populous suburban area, faces far more competition today than it did when it first created its financial planning program in the late 1970s.

More than 100 programs at 84 institutions, including 10 schools in the New York area, are registered with the Denver-based Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, charging from $XXX to $X,XXX per course. The nonprofit education organization awards the CFP designation to those who pass its exam and complete one of the registered programs.

What’s more, Adelphi’s former rival in the field, the 26-year-old Denver-based College for Financial Planning, still has a strong grip, graduating more than half of a
ll CFP candidates. And the College has deep pockets in the form of a new for-profit owner, publicly traded Apollo Group Inc.

The College sued Adelphi in the early 1980s for attempting to bestow the CFP mark, which the College owned at the time, to graduates of the now-defunct certificate program. The suit was settled when the two agreed to form an independent body to certify educational programs, which was the predecessor to the CFP Board.

“There is a demand for (financial planning education) and a need for planning professionals who are trained,” observes Robert P. Goss, president of the CFP Board. “And colleges and universities can make money.”