Virginia Tech's Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has registered with Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (CFP Board) to provide a new financial planning option for its undergraduate students.

At the same time, the Department of Finance in the Pamplin College of Business registered a CFP® Certification Education track. These collaborative programs offer students two avenues to prepare for a career in financial planning.

An independent certifying organization, CFP Board owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM and federally registered CFP (with flame design), which it awards to individuals who meet its educational, examination, experience, and ethics requirements. Students completing the Financial Planning option within the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics or the CFP® Certification Education track within the Department of Finance at Virginia Tech will be eligible to sit for the national CFP® Certification Examination administered by the CFP Board.

“Financial planning is described as a career with high job satisfaction and earnings potential. However, due to the rapid growth of the profession, attracting and retaining qualified employees is consistently identified as a major problem. The collaboration between the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and the Department of Finance to offer these programs is another example of Virginia Tech ‘stretching resources’ to meet future needs of the business community and the households they serve,” says Ruth Lytton, associate professor of agricultural and applied economics and director of the programs.

Virginia Tech is one of only four universities in Virginia to offer the CFP Board program.

“CFP Board is pleased to have an educational institution of the caliber of Virginia Tech now offering its approved financial planning curriculum,” said Karen P. Schaeffer, CFP®, chair of CFP Board of Directors. “As student interest in financial planning as a career continues to grow, we anticipate that Virginia Tech’s program will contribute significantly to the number of qualified candidates seeking to sit for the CFP® Certification Examination.”

In considering a school’s application to register a program, CFP Board compares the program with the financial planning-related topics identified in extensive, periodic job-task analysis studies. The job-task analyses survey financial planning professionals to determine areas students should master in order to provide competent, ethical financial planning services.

The topics to be mastered can be categorized into the broad subject areas of general principles of financial planning, insurance planning and risk management, employee benefits planning, investment planning, income tax planning, retirement planning, and estate planning.

For more information about the financial planning program options, contact Ruth Lytton, director of the CFP Board-Registered Programs at (540) 231-6678.

For more information about CFP Board, vist its website.

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