Graduate Certificate in Personal Financial Planning

Mission Statement

Helping Christian families receive biblically integrated financial advice will bring about a great healing of relationships and redeeming of the marketplace through cultivating wise and generous financial living, as compared to the current model of financial advice that cultivates disordered relationships and an unhealthy marketplace through anxious and materialistic financial living. This program will help meet this unprecedented need for Christian financial advisors who Biblically integrate their financial advice.

The Crowell School of Business offers an 18-credit Graduate Certificate in Personal Financial Planning. This certificate program is a fully online program and meets the educational requirements to sit for the CFP^® exam and CKA^® certification. 

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Critical Thinking: students will demonstrate the ability to formulate, implement, and monitor financial decisions into an integrated plan that guides an individual or family to achieve their financial goals (ULO 1).

2. Spiritual: students will articulate how biblical principles apply to formulating financial plans, particularly how a Christian can embrace a vibrant faith in the providential nature of God while, also, maintaining financial goals for the future (ULO 3).
3. Cultural Engagement: students will be equipped to provide financial guidance to a diverse community with care and cultural competency (ULO 2).

Each Program Learning Outcome (PLO) listed above references at least one of the University Learning Outcomes (ULO 1, 2, 3), which may be found in the General Information section of this catalog.

Admission Requirements

Applicants to the Graduate Certificate in Personal Financial Planning program must:

1. Be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Applicants must have completed all bachelors requirements (Business Administration or other field) prior to the start of the program and must have a baccalaureate degree earned either from a regionally accredited institution in the U.S. or a recognized baccalaureate degree equivalent earned outside the U.S. prior to the start of the second term.

Students may apply to the MBA program and, if accepted, have up to 12 of these credits applied toward their MBA degree. In order for the courses to be applied to the MBA, students should enter the MBA program within five years of receiving their certificate.

Completion Requirements

Curriculum Requirements

The Graduate Certificate in Personal Financial Planning requires 18 credits of coursework and includes the following courses. All courses are three credits and are not required to be taken in any particular order, with the exception of MBAD 632 Capstone of Financial Planning, which must be the last course in sequencing.