College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences

About the FCS Distance Instructional Alliance

The Family and Consumer Sciences departments at six land-grant universities have united to offer their students access to the courses in the Family Financial Planning curriculum online through N.C. A&T. Each participating 1890s Alliance institution will award a certificate in Family Financial Planning to students who successfully complete the course requirements.

The alliance represents the first online collaboration of its kind for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The group was funded in 2004 by a Capacity Building Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), formerly known as Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.

Alliance members are Alabama A&M University, Fort Valley State University, North Carolina A&T State University, South Carolina State University, Tennessee State University and the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Alliance members

How can students enrolled at these institutions take classes in the Family Financial Planning Certificate program?

  • Check for course offerings with the chairperson of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences or the Department of Human Ecology at your institution.
  • Register for the course at your institution and through the the N.C. A&T Office of Continuing Education, 336-285-3799, or email Pat White: whitep@ncat.edu.
  • Submit the Application/Interest Form to the FFP Certificate coordinator at N.C. A&T through Valerie Giddings, Ph.D., vlgiddin@ncat.edu; or fax 336-334-7265.
  • To become certified, register for the CFP® Certification Examination, administered through the CFP® Board of Standards. For more information and to create an account, visit https://www.cfp.net/become-a-cfp-professional.

How do students at these institutions receive the certificate?

  • Each participating 1890s Alliance institution will award a certificate in Family Financial Planning to students who successfully complete the course requirements upon graduation with a bachelor’s degree.