Program Courses

On-Campus Program Courses and Class Schedule

Complete the certificate in 14 to 18 months by: 
  • Taking more than one course at a time at least once during the program such as Income Tax, Estate or Retirement Planning. (Taking more than two courses per term is not recommended.)
  • Taking the Introduction and Investment course by themselves (i.e. do not double up).
  • Taking the Financial Plan Development and Presentation course by itself at the end of the program. (Per CFP Board no exceptions will be made.)

Program Schedule:
Courses are held according to the schedule below, but may be subject to change.

Registration tips:

  • Click on a course link to register.  
  • To see the dates and prices for multiple courses, filter by term.

Annual Schedule

  FALL WINTER SPRING SUMMER
300-0 Intro to Financial Planning X   X
301-0 Insurance Planning   X   X
312-0 Investment Planning X   X
313-0 Income Tax Planning X X
314-0 Retirement Planning and Employee Benefits X X
315-0 Estate Planning X X

320-0 Financial Plan Development and Presentation (Capstone) *Only offered during the Fall and Spring terms. Please plan your schedule with this in mind.

 X X

Sample Course Plans

.

Standard

Fall Start
 

YEAR 1

YEAR 2
FALL Intro Estate
WINTER Insurance Retirement
SPRING Income Tax Financial Plan
SUMMER Investment [July Exam]

Spring Start
 

YEAR 1

YEAR 2
SPRING Intro Estate
SUMMER Insurance Retirement
FALL Income Tax Financial Plan
WINTER Investment [March Exam]

Accelerated

Fall Start
 

YEAR 1

YEAR 2
FALL Intro Financial Plan
WINTER Insurance + Retirement [March Exam]
SPRING Income Tax + Estate

SUMMER Investment

Spring Start
 

YEAR 1

YEAR 2
SPRING Intro Financial Plan
SUMMER Insurance + Retirement [July Exam]
FALL Income Tax + Estate

WINTER Investment

PDP courses are offered online, remotely, and on-campus. Please refer to the Schedule Notes for course delivery information.

IMPORTANT: The registration process for all professional development courses requires you to register for your course and update your emergency contact information in CAESAR, Northwestern University's Student Enterprise System.

Tips for Troubleshooting Registration

TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENT*:

Registering for multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a mandatory, integrated step to access Northwestern University systems. Northwestern uses the DUO Mobile smartphone application for multi-factor authentication. Steps to install the DUO Mobile App can be found here. Once you have completed the MFA registration process, you will have access to systems like CAESAR and CANVAS, Northwestern’s Learning Management System.

*It is a student’s responsibility to ensure access to Northwestern systems after registering for a PDP course. If you do not have a smartphone capable of downloading and using the DUO Mobile app, you may want to consider a YubiKey that can be purchased from several online retailers.

Please contact pdp@northwestern.edu with any questions.

Program Course ID Course Title / Description Fall 2024 Winter 2025
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERFN_EXTND 300-0Intro to Financial Planning

Chicago Campus
W
6 – 9 p.m.
Canale, Thomas

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERFN_EXTND 301-0Insurance Planning

Chicago Campus
W
5:45 – 9 p.m.
Wener, Tammy

Hartz, Jacob

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERFN_EXTND 312-0Investment Planning

Chicago Campus
Th
6 – 9:15 p.m.
Arnold, Warren

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERFN_EXTND 313-0Income Tax Planning

Chicago Campus
W
5:45 – 9 p.m.
Zacher, James

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERFN_EXTND 314-0Retirement Planning and Employee Benefits

Chicago Campus
M
5:45 – 9 p.m.
Williams, Charles

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERFN_EXTND 315-0Estate Planning

Chicago Campus
Tu
5:45 – 9 p.m.
Coffey, Linda

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERFN_EXTND 320-0Financial Plan Development and Presentation

Chicago Campus
M
6 – 9 p.m.
Arnold, Warren
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