April 15th Deadline Approaching for Military Spouse Fellowship Program

The FINRA Foundation Military Spouse Fellowship Program

By Janet Farley

If you are interested in applying for the FINRA Foundation Military Spouse Fellowship Program, you’d better get on it! The deadline to apply for this exciting opportunity is April 15, 2011.

Now in its sixth year, this popular career and community enhancing grant once again offers 200 military spouses the opportunity to earn the Accredited Financial Counselor® (AFC®) designation.

Having a value of up to $1,170, the grant pays for the enrollment fee, study materials, webinar study sessions and two attempts at each examination for the two courses needed to earn the designation.

The coursework is completed via distance learning and is self-paced. In addition to the coursework, spouses are required to complete a practicum that may consist of up to 1000 hours, depending on one’s past work experience.

Spouses have up to three years to complete the program.

To date, nearly 1000 scholarships have been awarded and 255 military spouses have successfully completed the training and earned the AFC® credential. You can find them many of them working within military communities the world over as financial counselors at family readiness and support centers, credit counseling and tax centers, financial aid offices and credit unions.

If you think you have what it takes, visit www.militaryfamily.org to read up on the fine print.  Note that preference is given to military spouses who: 

• have some college or a degree in business, finance, accounting or social sciences
• currently volunteer or work in personal finance, banks, credit unions or counseling services
• have volunteer experience within the military community

The 2011-2012 Fellowship is open to current or surviving spouses of active duty or retired Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, National Guard or Reserve service members.  Spouses of U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials are also eligible to apply.

It is administrated in partnership with the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education® and the National Military Family Association (www.militaryfamily.org).  To apply online for the fellowship, visit www.militaryfamily.org by the April 15th deadline.

Janet Farley is the author of The Military Spouse’s Guide to Complete Career Success (Impact Pubs) and the Military-to-Civilian Career Transition Guide (Jist, Inc.). Farley writes the JobTalk column in the Stars and Stripes newspapers and the Homefront column for the Military Officers Association of America. Farley also writes for Military OneSource, Bradley-Morris’ Civilian Job News and ClearanceJobs.Com. Follow her on Twitter at Mil2CivGuide for timely career transition tips.