Financial educators will work with almost 3000 postgraduate students this year to ensure they meet a bachelor’s degree (AQF7) or higher standard by 1 January 2026.
Kaplan Professional chief executive Brian Knight says the specialist finance educator would “bear the burden” of issuing most of Australia’s outstanding postgraduate qualifications for existing advisers before the deadline.
About 2500 students were currently enrolled across six study periods in 2025 to meet the deadline for accreditation but some further enrolments were expected, Knight tells Professional Planner.
“We’ve got one [course] currently running in December through to January,’’ Knight says. “It’s got record numbers in it…it’s jam packed with about 1600 people.”
A course starting on January 13 has 500 students, five times more than usual, he adds.
Enrolments began to pick up in 2023 and every study period has experienced higher numbers than the previous ones as the deadline loomed.
“The consequences of not finishing, if you want to stay in practice, are quite severe – that’s why we’ve got all of our team at the moment,” Knight says.
Kaplan currently offers master’s degree, graduate diploma and graduate certificates of financial planning as well as FAS-approved (the Treasury-run successor to FASEA) bridging courses for existing advisers to meet qualifications.
Knight says the industry had done well to move about 12,000 advisers through a higher education qualification in the past five years.
South Australian financial planning academic Ron McIver said the major impact on postgraduate enrolments at his university, such as the graduate diploma in financial planning, occurred when the 10-year experienced provider pathway was introduced in 2023.
This was sufficient to provide incentives to delay enrolment in additional qualifications, he says.
“The requirement for current providers to meet education standards was only expected to deliver a short-term boost to demand for postgraduate qualifications, for example the Graduate Diploma or Masters, the most likely programs to be utilised to meet these requirements,’’ McIver says.
“My examination of the available data, and anecdotal evidence from national conversations on the matter, suggest that the upcoming deadline for current advisers to achieve qualifications has had limited impact on enrolments in financial planning programs.
McIver says the major impact on postgraduate enrolments occurred with the announcement and enactment of the experience pathway in 2023.
The experience pathway, promised by then-shadow Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones before the 2022 election, would grant advisers with a cumulative decade worth of experience and no disciplinary record the chance to stay in the industry without obtaining relevant tertiary qualifications.
McIver says the significant reduction in current adviser demand associated with the passing of the experience pathway, and changes to visa arrangements for international students and their recruitment have, therefore, been the major factors in limiting demand for postgraduate programs in financial planning.
“This has been further complicated by the current Treasury and Ministerial review of the scope of the curriculum required for recognition for entry into financial planning,’’ he says.
“A consequence has been closer evaluation of these programs, and the rumoured [or actual] withdrawal of their offering by some institutions.”
McIver says he hoped the potential for a career that provided service and benefit to the community, and the chance to make a significant impact on the financial lives of Australians would provide sufficient demand to support retention of, particularly, undergraduate programs in financial planning.