Most financial planners work for advisory firms, brokerages or banks, helping clients figure out how to invest, preserve and/or give away money.

Not Justin Kribs. He works for Oregon Health & Science University, one of the most expensive public medical schools in the nation. He helps students launch careers while saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.

OHSU is one of only two medical schools in the country Drexel University in Pennsylvania is the other -- that employs a full-time financial planner. Both institutions hired them in 2012. Their students reportedly are keeping them very busy.

"In my opinion, it's a whole population that's been ignored from a financial planning perspective," said Kribs, manager of OHSU's student debt counseling and financial management program.

Nationwide, universities are making a stronger effort to boost financial literacy among undergraduates and graduate students in an effort to deal with their growing mountains of debt. The U.S. Consumer Finance Protection Bureau last year estimated total student debt now exceeds $1.2 trillion.

The Council on Graduate Schools, with a $1.5 million grant from postsecondary financial giant TIAA-CREF, has launched a three-year effortacross more than a dozen universities to research and boost students' financial knowledge.

But the schools are largely relying on peer-to-peer networking, classes or seminars to dispense financial help. None of them have committed as many resources as Drexel and OHSU, which pays Kribs nearly $70,000 a year.

There's good reason why OHSU is spending the money. Surveys repeatedly found students asking for more help managing their mounting debt, administrators say.

OHSU ranks as the third-most expensive medical school in the country for in-state students, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Tuition, fees and health insurance cost $44,463 a year for Oregon residents seeking a medical degree. Dental students pay slightly more.

That usually requires some hefty borrowing. Last year, the average MD-degree holder left OHSU with $198,700 of debt, up from $173,500 in 2009-10, according to the school's figures. The average dental student left with $230,245, up from $176,200 in 2009-10. Undergraduate nurses left with just more than $41,000.

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Is there a financial planner in the house? At this medical school, yes