Texas Tech University

School of Financial Planning

Our Value Proposition

Faculty

The School of Financial Planning at Texas Tech employs highly qualified faculty devoted only to teaching personal financial planning and applied personal finance. These faculty share a passion for educating the next generation of financial planning professionals and for providing financial literacy education to students across campus. Our faculty holds PhDs, JDs, CFP® professionals, CPA, ChFC designation, and CLU titles. In addition to being excellent teachers, most are actively involved in conducting and disseminating applied research with the goal of building the body of personal financial planning knowledge. Faculty have won numerous awards from both the academic and the professional financial planning community.

Alumni

Our graduates are leaders in the profession. Thirty-six graduates are now professors at colleges and universities across the nation and in New Zealand. Many of them are at CFP Board-Registered Programs where they are educating the next generation of financial advisors. Four alumni were included in the 2023 InvestmentNews "40 under 40 List",and one alumni (along with two faculty) were on the 2015 InvestmentAdvisor "35 for 35 List" naming the most influential people in the industry.

Alumni

The majority of our undergraduates and graduate alumni take career positions at planning firms across the country. Placement rate is exceptional, well over 90%, with most students receiving more than one job offer. A large number of firms travel to campus annually to hire our students for internship and career positions. Texas Tech students and alumni have secured internships or full-time jobs in 47 of 50 states and 9 countries.

Students

While in school, Students have the opportunity to become members of student organizations like Red to Black and Knowledge Empowering You (KEY). Red to Black offers peer-driven financial education and coaching services to students at Texas Tech University. KEY focuses on delivering financial education to the Lubbock community through group presentations and financial coaching sessions at the Charles Schwab Foundation Personal Financial Planning Clinic.  They compete very successfully in national competitions (winning the Financial Planning Challenge at the FPA Conference in 2023, 2021,2020, and 2018). PhD students won Outstanding Paper awards at both the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE) and the Academy of Financial Services (AFS) in 2015, and one of the PhD students was named as a Visionary in Investment News 40 under 40 for 2014. In 2009 the Schwab/PFP Technology Complex (a 4,500 square foot learning area) was completed. It includes two classrooms, a computer/study lab, and a conference room equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Students also have access to over $6M of professional software that is used in their classes, including one class that focuses on using the software used by practicing professionals. BS students are required and MS students are encouraged to complete a paid internship. Students also can enroll in a practicum class where they do financial planning for university faculty and staff or they can volunteer as peer financial coaches through the Red-to-Black peer financial counseling center on campus.

Curriculum

At Texas Tech, we offer a flexible online Bachelor of Science in Applied Personal Finance that was designed with today's online learning in mind. This undergraduate degree includes the educational requirement to sit for the AFC® examination. Topics for this degree include diversity in personal finance, financial literacy skill building, credit, counseling, insurance, and investing. 

PFP Students In Classroom