The CFP Board of Standards has pushed back the implementation of a new rule that will require new CFP certificants to have at least a college bachelor's degree.
   The requirement, originally scheduled to take effect January 1, will instead start on March 1.
   The main reason for the delay is to allow candidates who took the CFP exam in November more time to finish up their work experience and ethics requirements before the requirement kicks in, said Colleen McArdell, the CFP Board's manager of Initial Certification.
   Typically, she says, about 20% of candidates who pass the CFP test are lacking all the work and ethics requirements necessary to receive the certificate, she says. The CFP gives candidates five years from the time they pass the exam to fulfill all their certificate requirements. If the requirements are not met within that time, candidates must retake the exam.
   The extension, McArdell says, amounts to "administrative leeway" for many candidates who took the exam in November in an attempt to bypass the bachelor's degree requirement.
   She noted that any CFP candidate who has passed the CFP exam within the past five years, but not yet met all certificate requirements, is also racing against the March 1 deadline.
   The degree requirement does not apply to existing CFP certificate holders.