The Education Requirement: Bachelor's Degree Requirement
Guide to CFP® Certification

Beginning in 2007, in addition to completing courses that cover the financial planning topics required for CFP® certification, a bachelor's degree (or higher), or its equivalent,¹ in any discipline, from an accredited college or university² is required to attain CFP® certification. The bachelor's degree requirement is a condition of initial certification; it is not a requirement to be eligible to take the CFP® Certification Examination. You have five years from the date you pass the CFP® Certification Examination to satisfy the bachelor's degree requirement. After you pass the CFP® Certification Examination, you will be required to provide evidence (official transcript from the degree-granting institution) that you hold a qualified bachelor's degree or higher degree.

¹ International degrees may be substituted for a U.S. undergraduate degree if they receive equivalency from a third-party evaluation agency which is a member of National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) www.NACES.org. Applicants should request a document-by-document evaluation.

² An "accredited college or university" is one that has been accredited by an accreditation body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. To confirm a school's accreditation please visit the Department of Education's Web site (ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.asp).

Very important note for individuals not planning to obtain a bachelor's degree:
Individuals without a bachelor's degree can take the CFP® Certification Examination and may even be certified, but all certification requirements - education, passing the exam, five years of experience and the ethics component - must be met by February 28, 2007.

What the bachelor's degree requirement means for specific situations:

• Individuals without a bachelor's degree will need to have passed the CFP® Certification Examination by November 2006, and met the five-year experience requirement and the ethics requirement by February 28, 2007.
  
  
• Individuals without a bachelor's degree and no qualifying experience would have needed to have started gaining financial planning experience before 2002 in order to meet the five-year experience requirement. All individuals without a bachelor's degree who have not completed the five-year experience requirement by February 28, 2007, will be required to have a bachelor's degree.
  
  
• Individuals without a bachelor's degree and with five years of experience are encouraged to take the exam by July 2006, to avoid the pressure of having only one last chance to pass the exam.
  
  
• Individuals without a bachelor's degree, even after 2007, may take the exam, but they must then obtain a bachelor's degree within five years after passing the exam in order to be certified.
  
  
• Individuals without a bachelor's degree, who have fulfilled the exam requirement, but who are not certified by February 28, 2007, will have five years from the exam date to complete the other initial certification requirements - three years of experience, ethics component and a bachelor's degree - before their candidacy is terminated and the exam will need to be retaken.
  
  
• Individuals without a bachelor's degree who pass the November 2006 exam will until February 28, 2007 to complete the certification process.
  
  
• Individuals without a bachelor's degree, in CFP Board's professional review process, who have completed all requirements before February 28, 2007, except for the ethics requirement, will be certified after February 28, 2007, as long as professional review clears the individual and the individual submits any additional required paperwork within 30 calendar days of the request.

CFP Board can not predetermine whether individuals will meet certain requirements, but will offer counsel to individuals seeking guidance about the education, bachelor's degree or experience requirements.

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