Green Bay, Wis.—Beginning immediately, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will admit students for the Fall 2021 semester who are interested in pursuing a career path in financial planning. The University, through the Cofrin School of Business, has been approved by Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) to provide the new Financial Planning program.
“CFP Board is pleased to approve the program at UW-Green Bay as a CFP Board Registered Program,” said Douglas S. King, CFP®, chair of CFP Board’s Board of Directors. “As student interest in financial planning as a career continues to grow, we anticipate that UW-Green Bay’s program will contribute significantly to the number of qualified candidates seeking to attain the CFP® certification, the standard of excellence for competent and ethical financial planning.”
Professor Preston Cherry, who secured the approval and will lead the program, said this development means that UW-Green Bay’s Financial Planning program will provide three of the essential four “E’s” needed to become a successful financial planner—ethics, education and exam. The other “E” is experience, which will come in the form of internships and other opportunities from local partners.
“Successful Financial Planning programs across the country tend to experience close to 100% job placement and paid internship rates for students. Our program aims to replicate this mission,” Cherry said. “Students in the Personal Financial Planning program will be qualified to sit for the CFP exam, which increases their marketability to local firms as they enter into the profession and will help provide the foundation these students need to be successful in the financial advisory and the financial planning profession,” explained Cherry.
Wipfli Financial Partners is one of the many local business partners and organizations excited about the potential of the program.
“Personal finance awareness and engagement are essential to the development and growth of households across our community,” said Wipfli Principal/Senior Financial Advisor Benjamin Hayes. “We are excited to see UW-Green Bay offer such an impactful financial planning program that will develop the next generation of financial advisors and expand financial literacy resources to the students and community. We expect that both efforts will help increase the overall financial well-being among families in Northeast Wisconsin.”
CFP Board is a Washington, D.C.-based independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to benefit the public by granting, upholding and promoting the Certified Financial PlannerTM (CFP®) certification. Those who earn the certification are distinguishing themselves among their peers by meeting CFP Board’s education, examination, experience and ethics requirements. Students completing the financial planning program at UW-Green Bay’s Cofrin School of Business will have met the education requirement for CFP® Certification Examination administered by CFP Board.
The CFP Board currently oversee more than 300 programs at more than 200 institutions nationally. CFP Board-Registered Programs are financial planning education programs at the college or university level that meet specific criteria for educating individuals who wish to fulfill the education component for obtaining CFP® certification.
“I can’t fully express my excitement over the recent responsiveness of the Finance faculty to meet the personal finance needs of Northeast Wisconsin’s business community,” said Dean of the Cofrin School of Business, Mathew Dornbush. “In January we announced our partnership with the Packers to name the Willie Davis Finance & Investment Laboratory, and here we are a month later announcing a partnership with the CFP Board to launch our Personal Financial Planning program. This is big win for the region; we’re only the fourth business school in the state with a CFP Board registered program, and the only one north of Madison. It’s another great example of the innovation ongoing in the Cofrin School of Business.”
Persons immediately interested in the program should send inquires Prof. Preston Cherry, cherryp@uwgb.edu.
