American College PhD phased out in April 2018

[DHK]

Legacy Programs | The American College

PhD in Financial and Retirement Planning
The part-time PhD in Financial and Retirement Planning started in July 2013 and was phased out in April 2018. PhD students produced original adacemic research that adds to the body of knowledge in the financial services profession. The College awarded six doctoral degrees before the program ended, and will maintain academic support for all students pursuing the degree at the time it was sunset.

6 PhDs... in 5 years. Well, that tells you how popular THAT program was! lol! (You'd think they'd know how to spell 'academic' too.)

 

[jcorr]

The numbers aren't as bad as you might think. Here's our local university which offers a PhD in Business. Anderson Graduate School of Management: Ph.D. Candidates They have 3 candidates currently and UCR is not a small school.

 

[shonceman]

The numbers aren't as bad as you might think. Here's our local university which offers a PhD in Business. Anderson Graduate School of Management: Ph.D. Candidates They have 3 candidates currently and UCR is not a small school.

But that's a real university! The American College, of which I am an alum, is really just a training program for financial services professionals. It can certainly be rigorous training at the more advanced levels, but it's not a university by any stretch, IMO.

David was referring to their particular program as being unpopular, not PhD's in general.

 

[jcorr]

I was trying to do a comparison on numbers and making the point that even though that there were only six PhD's in five years that didn't necessarily make it unpopular. The point I was trying to make was that even real universities aren't overflowing with PhD's. They also have a MS in Finance with 19 students. Anderson Graduate School of Management: Class Profile I wonder how many students The American College enrolls every year in their MSFS program. Might be an interesting comparison.

 

[shonceman]

I was trying to do a comparison on numbers and making the point that even though that there were only six PhD's in five years that didn't necessarily make it unpopular. The point I was trying to make was that even real universities aren't overflowing with PhD's. They also have a MS in Finance with 19 students. Anderson Graduate School of Management: Class Profile I wonder how many students The American College enrolls every year in their MSFS program. Might be an interesting comparison.

You know, I can see that's the point you were making, now that I read your post again. I'm embarrassed.

But I is a collij gradjit, doncha no!

 

[DHK]

The low enrollment and passing is more of a "slap in the face" to former college Chairman Dr. Larry Barton. He was the one who kept the "ChFC vs CFP designation war" going on as well as saying "we should have a PhD program". (He promoted CLU/ChFC "The Highest Standard in Knowledge and Trust" branding as a slap to CFP holders, but it's still a losing battle).

The Day I Became Ashamed To Be A CLU Designation Holder

I really blame him for not really understanding who the College really serves (practitioners and producers) rather than those who wished to pursue research.

Even Michael Kitces understood who Financial Planning PhD programs are for: researchers.

What Comes After CFP Certification? Post-CFP Designations

Ph.D. in Financial Planning – With the growth of financial planning in degree-based institutions, not only are there more Master’s degrees in Financial Planning than every before, but there are also half a dozen financial planning PhD programs as well, from the “original” Texas Tech personal financial planning PhD program, to others at University of Georgia, Kansas State University, the University of Missouri, Louisiana State University, and also the American College. However, it’s crucial to recognize that a financial planning PhD is not an advanced designation for financial planning practitioners, it’s a research degree, best used for those who actually want to do real research, or to become financial planning professors themselves in a graduate degree program. As a result, getting a PhD in financial planning should better be viewed as an alternative to being a practitioner, or as a “second/encore career” after being a financial planner; those who simply want advanced education in financial planning should pursue a Master’s Degree, or one of the other advanced designations listed below.

There is only ONE practitioner that I know of that took the PhD program: Guy Baker (who has a whole slew of credible alphabet soup after his name: CFP, CLU, ChFC, RHU, MSFS, MSM, PhD, and I'm sure a few others.)

Guy Baker talks a bit about what he learned in the PhD program in this MDRT presentation/podcast. Strangely enough, a lot of what he talked about could probably be learned in RICP, the new WMCP, or just a risk/return retirement portfolio management book. (Or he just simplified it for a room of insurance agents!)


Anyway, there are other colleges and universities one can attend if they want a PhD in Financial Planning... and I bet they are a better choice for such study overall anyway.