http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/process/scholarships/Pages/cfa_access_scholarships.aspx
Who ever said that this is supposed to be a meritocracy?
This is rather perplexing.
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CFAI has extra money to spend on scholarships? Why not just return the extra money to members in the form of reduced fees?
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What sort of CFA person qualifies for need-based aid? If you don’t have a job where you can accumulate $2000 (or whatever is the cost of the CFA program), should you really be doing the CFA?
I agree its a professional qualification. It should have professional fees.
The only people that should qualify for this are people who teach or perhaps work for free in non-profit enterprises.
Yep agree strongly with #1.
It’s not like CFAI is actually spending any money, they are just waiving some of the fees. I suspect the $250 the recipient still has to pay covers any real costs CFAI incurs as a result of that person sitting for the exam.
CFAI has a boatload of money. The only thing they should be doing is improving the prestige of the CFA charter by spreading the word on how difficult it is to acquire and how candidates and charterholders are better equipped in the finance world.
and that none of the people involved in the LIBOR scandal appears to be a charterholder, so far…
Yeah that’s BS. In full disclosure, I received a fee waiver for L1 through my school since they are a partner school with CFAI (or whatever they call it) and they had 5 fee waivers that they gave out to the top 5 applicants based on GPA and I got one. So I only had to pay about $250 for level 1, but then had to pay full for L2 and had no employer reimbursement.
- What sort of CFA person qualifies for need-based aid? If you don’t have a job where you can accumulate $2000 (or whatever is the cost of the CFA program), should you really be doing the CFA?
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WTF is wrong with you people here. The sort of person who does not have the resources to pay for the cost of CFA is indeed the sort of person who must take the CFA or any other designation, skill necessary to improve his situation! I would have expected this garbage from Deebo but not you Ohai!
This argument is different from having CFA1 foot the bill.
please make check payable to CFA1…You are going to give it back right since its BS?
Nope. You didn’t realize I was referring to something totally different? I called BS on the need based scholarship that is the subject of this thread. I got mine based on having a top GPA even though I could have paid the full amount…and they say that academic achievement is overrated.
The CFA program is meant for somewhat established finance professionals. 20 or 30 years ago, I doubt that you would find college students or Indian IT people in this program. Somewhere along the line, people got the impression that the CFA program is a stepping stone into finance. Depending on who you ask, too many unsuitable people sign up for the CFA program only to find that passing the exams gives them little or no benefit. CFAI is providing a public disservice by encouraging udnerqualified people to sign up for the exams.
I fully support reducing costs to CFA participants. However, like I said earlier, CFAI should lower costs to chartered members first. Many experienced CFA charterholders decide to let their charters expire due to high membership dues. The quality of the CFA population suffers when these experienced people no longer participate in CFA-related programs.
If the CFAI approves candidates to sit for the exams, then they are not “underqualified people” or it is you and your sort who decide who is qualified or not?
“Many experienced CFA charterholders decide to let their charters expire due to high membership dues”. LIAR. Who would go through this hell and sacrifice and then get their membership dues and be like " oh shit. I didnt realize my membership bill is gonna be this high. I cant afford to pay my dues. I better drop CFA before I become bankrupt."
@ ohai
Your first post basically said that people who don’t have a job that pays them enough to pay for the CFA program probably shouldn’t be doing the program. Now you’re saying that CFAI should lower fees so experienced charterholders can afford to pay their membership dues. Isn’t that kind of contradictory?
So you dont support need based assisstance yet you would gladly accept money you dont need? Why should we pay you $250 to take the CFA exam? Clearly the $250 was not a motivation or an incentive for you to take the exam because you would have paid it regardles? Incontrast the $250 would have been a deciding factor to somone less fortunate.
@ stormy
I do know one charterholder who abandoned his charter because he didn’t feel it was worth the price of the annual dues to still be able to put the letters after his name. He was well into his career though and his experience and performance spoke more than the charter.
Sure. If you had experience and a track record that impressive such that a potential client/employer would weight that more favorable, why on earth would I be pursuing the CFA in the first place. The CFA designation has served its purpose. It is a means to and end.
Ohai was trying to lead us to beleive that the dues are burdensome and that “experienced” charterholders are quiting in mass because of this. I ran some quick numbers:
Anual dues $250
Experienced annual sallary (5-9yrs per CFAI ) $93452
Now how many people would make such a decision based on 0.29% of their salary?
And
@ stormy
I’m actually with you on this one, but just pointing out that some people do choose to abandon their charter because of the dues.
Most experienced charterholders can definitely *afford* to pay the fees. However, many just choose not to, since the fees are typically a few hundred dollars a year. Unless you are actively job seeking, or need the CFA on your profile for PR, there is little benefit to paying the dues. Hence, people just stop paying.
Well, people are supposed to study the curriculum for knowledge and to participate in a uniform ethical standard. Sure, it is also useful for resume purposes, but that’s not the true purpose of the CFA program.
Also, I never said that people should not pursue the CFA charter for career advancement. I said that *underqualified* people should not waste time and money on CFA exams. Many people use the CFA exams to pursue a pipe dream of working in high finance. Many of these people would be better off improving their careers and finding happiness in other ways.