College for Financial Planning lowers tuition on basic course

In an effort to encourage people to continue to take its courses amid the economic downturn, the College for Financial Planning has cut the cost of one of its most popular courses by more than half. The online course, Foundations in Financial Planning, offered by the Greenwood, Colo.-based college, now costs $485, down from $985. The self-study version of the course is now $385, down from $785. Faced with lower revenue, many advisory firms are finding it difficult to reward employees with bonuses or extra pay, said John Sears, president of the college. They do, however, want to help employees keep up with their continuing education — especially because layoffs and attrition have meant that employees are forced to do more, he said. “Since this is designed for companies that want to increase value for their support team, we told them you can make your team more valuable by showing them a broad spectrum of the things that you do,” Mr. Sears said. The course is designed to provide students with a broad overview of financial services, including budgeting, investing, taxes and insurance. So far, Mr. Sears said that enrollment hasn't fallen off. But he said that he has spoken with advisers who said that, given the economy's impact on their practices, lowering the fees for this course would allow them to make it available to more of their staff members. Workers who have lost their jobs may take this class, but Mr. Sears said that he has heard more interest from staff members at advisory firms who want to bolster their skills. “This is valuable to employees who want as much job security as possible in these circumstances,” he said. E-mail Lisa Shidler at [email protected].