Ballentine Partners Scholarship to Create a Diverse Financial Planning Profession

about the scholarship 

The Ballentine Partners Scholarship to Create a Diverse Financial Planning Profession aims to advance the financial planning profession by growing the number and diversity of CFP® professionals. The scholarship provides financial assistance to qualified individuals who identify as Black or African American and/or Hispanic or Latino and who strive to obtain the CFP® certification.

Ballentine Partners is a client-centric investment and wealth management firm with over 110 employees and $10.2 billion of assets under management as of March 2022. The firm’s mission is to help families make smart decisions about their wealth, giving them the freedom to focus on the lives they want to lead. Ballentine Partners has partnered with the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning to offer this scholarship in order to help create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession, so that every American has access to competent, ethical financial planning advice.

The scholarship awards up to $5,000 to qualified students seeking to complete the education coursework at a CFP Board Registered Program that qualifies the student to sit for the CFP® exam.

eligibility requirements

• Must be enrolled in an undergraduate, certificate or graduate-level CFP Board Registered Program;
• Must possess an undergraduate degree (if applying for a scholarship at a certificate or graduate-level CFP Board Registered Program);
• If not enrolled at the time of applying, scholarship awardees will have up to 3 months to enroll or forfeit the award;
• Must identify as Black or African American and/or Hispanic or Latino;
• Must be an eligible candidate for CFP® certification as outlined by the CFP Board Fitness Standards.

Applicants who are selected to proceed to the final round of the application review process will be required to pass a background check conducted by CFP Board.

submission requirements

Please note that applications will only be accepted through this webpage. Please do not attempt to submit application materials (other than official transcripts) via mail, fax or email.

When submitting application essays and materials, please pay close attention to spelling, grammar and presentation, as that will be factored into the grading process

award process

Scholarship awards will be disbursed in two equal installments. To receive the first installment, recipients will have to demonstrate proof of enrollment in an eligible CFP Board Registered Program. If not currently enrolled in a program, recipients will have up to 3 months to enroll after being notified of the award. The second installment will be awarded either upon completing the program (if the awardee has already started coursework at the time the scholarship is awarded), or when the awardee is halfway through the program (if the awardee has not yet started coursework at the time the scholarship is awarded).

AWARD DECISION

Fall 2022 scholarship applicants will be notified of the award decision via email by mid-December 2022. If you have a question about the status of your application, please contact us at scholarships@cfpboard.org.

Application Window

The next application window will open in 2023.