School of Financial Planning

Mission and Vision Statement

The mission of the School of Financial Planning is to educate students to the highest standards of excellence; foster intellectual, ethical, and personal development; and generate the highest quality of meaningful research.

The Department will excel as the national leader in higher education in personal financial planning, manifesting excellence, inspiring confidence, and engaging the financial planning profession and society at large.

The School of Financial Planning will:

• Achieve and maintain national recognition as the premier financial planning program, attracting the highest quality students and faculty.
• Prepare students to be leaders, decision-makers, and scholars who are highly competent, articulate, ethical, principled, innovative, and confident in financial planning.
• Generate quality research thus expanding the boundaries of knowledge in financial planning.
• Promote excellence in scholarly and professional organizations through faculty service in leadership roles.

Undergraduate and graduate degree programs in personal financial planning are registered by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board). The term CFP® professional identifies a financial planning professional who has met educational standards, passed the CFP® certification examination, satisfied a work experience requirement, and agreed to the CFP Board's Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility. The terms CFP® professional and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ represent the most respected professional certification in the financial services industry.

History

The Personal Financial Planning major evolved from the Family Finance major and has been in place at Texas Tech for over twenty years. Established by leaders with a vision of the need to focus financial knowledge on families and the achievement of their goals, the Personal Financial Planning major has become a highly marketable program that has met the standards for registration established by Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc (CFP Board).

Program Structure

The academic structure of the program is organized around seven basic subject matter areas plus supporting courses in economics, communications, social sciences and a graded internship. The seven areas are financial planning fundamentals, risk management, investments, tax planning, retirement planning, employee benefits, and estate planning. The program prepares students to enter financial services careers stressing leadership, ethical behavior, and professionalism.

Program Growth

Enrollment growth at the BS, MS, and PhD levels has been rapid. These programs are based on high quality students and high quality courses. Development of distance learning capabilities will allow TTU to meet future demands for academic degrees as well as continuing education for financial planning professionals.

CFP Board-Registered Programs

There are over 200 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and 15 in Texas with programs registered by CFP Board. Students graduating from a CFP Board-Registered Program are eligible to sit for the CFP® Certification Examination, one of four requirements to become a CFP certificant.