Kaplan freezes enrolment fees until 2022
Kaplan Professional has committed to not increasing its retail subject enrolment fees until at least 2022.
The education provider said it had made a conscious decision to reduce subject enrolment fees, support corporate groups with negotiated pricing and allow advisers to lock in the price of their enrolment fees for the lifetime of their qualification.
Brian Knight, Kaplan chief executive, said most advisers had provided feedback that they wanted to move forward with completing the Financial Advisers Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) requirements even in the current environment.
“You only have to look at the significant number of advisers enrolled with Kaplan Professional and the fact 90% had already completed their 40 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) in Ontrack before the original 30 June deadline, to understand advisers are facing up to the challenge despite the circumstances,” Knight said.
“Although advisers appreciate the extensions, they are expressing a preference to not have these education commitments hanging over them for the next five to six years.”
Knight said Kaplan was concentrating on individually supporting advisers who were anxious or concerned about the FASEA requirements.
This included extra assistance for those studying from home, extended early access to subject materials and assessments, and online proctored exams.
“We felt it was important to do more for these advisers, so we introduced personal consultations to support anyone who is apprehensive about sitting the FASEA exam or has failed and is struggling with self-doubt,” Knight said.
Over 2,000 advisers had been enrolled in every one of Kaplan Professional’s six annual intakes since the FASEA education requirements were confirmed, and enrolments further increased during the pandemic.
Kaplan had also partnered with the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) to combine a Master of Financial Planning with the Certified Financial Planning (CFP) Certification Program.
“Advisers who want to go beyond the minimum education requirement can combine a FASEA-approved Master of Financial Planning with the CFP Certification Program,” Knight said.
AUTHOR
Chris Dastoor
Recommended for you
With regional and rural suburbs exhibiting high spare capacity to invest, Money Management speaks to three regional advisers on the opportunities beyond the major cities and the importance of a strong network.
Platform consolidation is expected to accelerate among financial advisers this year, as software company Finura pinpoints which two platforms are set to be the winners, thanks to this trend.
The software provider has made several appointments in its APAC wealth propositions team, with a focus on driving growth across digital advice, Xplan and strategic partnerships.
The platform has announced it plans to close its Xplore managed discretionary account service in 2026 which holds $2 billion in funds under administration.
