We recently evaluated the Access Scholarship to focus on several factors including overall candidate experience, organizational risk, and the allocation of time and resources for both society volunteers and internal staff.
As the CFA Program Exam candidate experience has evolved, it is necessary for the Access Scholarship model to adjust to ensure scholarship candidates can progress along their journey with the same flexibility as other candidates. We also aimed to improve consistency of scholarship award criteria. Additionally, given the growing scrutiny on data privacy around the world, we must minimize organizational risk in releasing candidate personal information to outside parties such as society volunteers. Finally, our staff dedicates a considerable amount of time to provision system access and provide training to society volunteers on the scholarship platform and many societies around the world spend significant time and effort on the review process; we feel these efforts can be repurposed for the better.
As a result of our evaluation, which included feedback from key stakeholders including societies, we are implementing a revised model for program year 2022. Significant changes are highlighted below:
- Offer two shorter application windows during this program year benefiting all three candidate levels
- Complete the review and award process internally to shorten review timelines and provide societies with additional volunteer time for more impactful efforts
- Implement a consistent decision-making process for awarding scholarships that assesses relative financial need of applicants within individual markets.
We are pleased to announce the first Access Scholarship application cycle will be offered 10 January–14 February 2022. Our goal is to complete the review process and communicate decisions by 1 April 2022 to allow sufficient time for applicants to register for the August 2022 exam. Find more information on the Access Scholarship page of our enterprise website.
We are excited to implement these changes for the Access Scholarship Program. Additional details including timelines and FAQs can be found on Society Center (Candidates tile > Scholarships).
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