New Diversity Scholarship Program for CFP® Certification Announced by the College for Financial Planning® - a Kaplan Company

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) announced today that the College for Financial Planning® – a Kaplan Company – is offering a Diversity Scholarship Program for candidates hoping to earn their CFP® Certification.

The College's new program will award up to 60 scholarships annually to qualified individuals seeking to complete the education requirement needed to attain CFP^® certification. The applicants must be from underrepresented populations in the financial planning field, in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation. 

"The College's scholarship program is an important avenue to fostering diversity and inclusion in the financial planning profession," said CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller, CAE. "CFP Board is proud to support this important effort, and we look forward to seeing the successes of the College's scholarship recipients for years to come."

Statistics from the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning's Why Diversity Matters: How Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Accelerate Business Success in Financial Services reveal only 3.7 percent of the more than 87,000 CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals in the United States are Black or Hispanic. Women are also underrepresented, at only 23 percent, while accounting for 52 percent of the overall population.

"The Center for Financial Planning will directly benefit from The College's scholarship program," said CFP Board Center for Financial Planning Managing Director D.A. Abrams, CAE. "We are grateful to the College for their commitment to create more pathways into the profession by investing in people from underrepresented communities to allow them to continue their journey to CFP® certification."

The scholarships will prepare awardees to sit for the CFP^® exam one year after the start of the scholarship. Up to 20 scholarships will be awarded three times per year totaling up to 60 scholarships annually. Based on when recipients are awarded their scholarships, they would start their CFP^® certification education program in March, July or November.

"Through our Diversity Scholarship Program for CFP® Certification we hope to not only foster diversity within the financial planning profession but to contribute to broader efforts which extend financial stewardship in underrepresented and underserved communities," said Dirk Pantone, President of The College for Financial Planning®—a Kaplan Company. "By awarding nearly half a million dollars in CFP® certification education scholarships annually, we are honored to help bring the best to the profession and ultimately make positive impacts to our society."  

Each scholarship, valued at $7,641 per scholarship, will cover the full cost of the College's one-year program for CFP^® certification education.

The deadline for applications for the first 20 scholarships is December 15, 2020. Individuals awarded scholarships associated with this deadline would start their one-year CFP^® certification education program in March 2021.

To learn more or apply for the College's Diversity Scholarship, go to www.kaplanfinancial.com/cfp-diversityscholarships

To learn more about the CFP Board's Certification process, visit: https://www.cfp.net/get-certified/certification-process

ABOUT CFP BOARD
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. is the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. CFP Board sets standards for financial planning and administers the prestigious CFP® certification – one of the most respected certifications in financial services – so that the public has access to and benefits from competent and ethical financial planning. CFP Board, along with its Center for Financial Planning, is committed to increasing the public's awareness of CFP® certification and access to a diverse, ethical and competent financial planning workforce. Widely recognized by firms and consumer groups as the standard for financial planning, CFP® certification is held by more than 87,000 people in the United States.

ABOUT THE CFP BOARD CENTER FOR FINANCIAL PLANNING
The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning seeks to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession so that every American has access to competent and ethical financial planning advice. The Center brings together CFP® professionals, firms, educators, researchers and experts to address profession-wide challenges in the areas of diversity and workforce development, and to build an academic home that offers opportunities for conducting and publishing new research that adds to the financial planning body of knowledge. More about the Center and its initiatives can be found at www.CenterforFinancialPlanning.org.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE FOR FINANCIAL PLANNING
Founded in 1972, the College for Financial Planning^®—A Kaplan Company provides accessible and flexible degree, non-degree and continuing professional education programs to students nationwide. Shortly after its founding, the College introduced the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^™ certification, which is now the world's most recognized and respected financial planning credential with more than 87,000 certified professionals.

In addition to its CFP^® Certification Professional Education Program, the College also offers a master's degree in personal financial planning and professional designation programs that provide more in-depth knowledge of the finance industry, with specializations ranging from asset management and retirement planning to sustainable, responsible and impact (SRI) investments. The College for Financial Planning is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association. More than 160,000 students have graduated from the College's programs. For more information, visit www.cffp.edu  

SOURCE Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.