$10 Million Commitment from Edelman Financial Engines Establishes New School of Financial Planning at Rowan University

Ric Edelman has spent four decades building a career around a simple conviction: ordinary people deserve the same quality of financial guidance that the wealthy take for granted.

That belief now finds its most ambitious expression yet in a $10 million commitment from Edelman Financial Engines to Rowan University, the New Jersey public research institution that helped shape him.

The gift establishes the School of Financial Planning inside the William G. Rohrer College of Business, creating a powerful new pathway for students who want to build meaningful careers guiding families toward financial security.

Edelman Financial Engines, the firm Ric and his wife Jean founded in 1986, is putting real capital behind the next generation of planners. Today, the firm serves more than a million clients and manages more than $326 billion in assets.

The $10 million commitment from Edelman Financial Engines will fund the school’s operations and endowment. Classes are scheduled to begin as early as fall 2026.

Students will be able to pursue a major or minor at the undergraduate level, a master’s degree, certificates, and executive education, all designed with the Certified Financial Planner designation as a central goal.

The curriculum will emphasize both technical mastery and the communication skills that turn advice into lasting client relationships.

Ric Edelman himself will serve as the founding head of the school.

A Rowan alumnus and longtime university trustee, he already holds the titles of executive-in-residence and university-distinguished lecturer in the Rohrer College of Business.

He will work directly with faculty to shape courses and will teach in the programs. His wife Jean, also a Rowan graduate and current board member, has been a steady partner in both the firm’s growth and the couple’s philanthropy to their alma mater.

Together, Ric and Jean have supported Rowan University philanthropically over the years, including major support for the university’s fossil park and museum and its college of communication and creative arts. The latest $10 million commitment from Edelman Financial Engines continues that broader commitment to financial education while focusing squarely on the profession Ric has spent a lifetime advancing.

Ralph Haberli, chief executive and president of Edelman Financial Engines, framed the investment in practical terms.

Expanding access to high-quality advice, he said, begins with investing in the people who deliver it. The firm has long championed financial literacy and education; the new school represents a structural commitment to building a stronger, more diverse pipeline of talent.

Rowan President Ali Houshmand called financial education a natural extension of the university’s public-service mission, noting that the partnership with Edelman Financial Engines and Ric’s leadership will allow the program to launch with unusual speed and credibility.

Matthew Sarkees, dean of the Rohrer College of Business, described the initiative as the start of a first-of-its-kind East Coast financial education ecosystem.

The college has grown rapidly, with business enrollment up 26 percent in three years, and already carries the rare dual AACSB and ABET accreditation.

The new school will sit inside that established infrastructure while adding industry partnerships, research opportunities, conferences, and networking that connect students directly to practicing planners.

For Ric Edelman, the project is personal as well as professional. As a Rowan alumnus, longtime university trustee, and leader in the financial planning field, he brings decades of experience to the new school. The $10 million commitment itself, however, comes from Edelman Financial Engines.

He has long argued that financial planning ranks among the most meaningful careers available. His stated ambition is to produce the industry’s largest pipeline of CFP-ready graduates, eventually aiming for hundreds each year.

A companion Center of Financial Education will let planning majors offer peer counseling to Rowan’s broader undergraduate population.

The school will also collaborate with the Personal Finance Institute, a nonprofit Edelman launched to support continuing education for working planners and financial literacy for the public.

The gift arrives under the banner of Rowan University’s Forging Forward campaign, but its significance reaches well beyond one campus.

By placing a rigorous, industry-aligned program at a growing public university with strong regional reach, the initiative aims to expand opportunity for the next generation of advisors.

Ric Edelman remains the firm’s largest individual shareholder and continues as a strategic adviser and board member.

The $10 million commitment from Edelman Financial Engines represents a significant corporate investment in the future of financial planning education. For Ric Edelman, who helped build the firm and will lead the new school, it also represents an opportunity to help shape the next generation of professionals and ensure the field he has spent decades advancing continues to serve families with excellence and care.