CPA Reqs and Coopersmith/Study.com

[Sunnydaze]

"Credits must be TAKEN at an accredited (or non-U.S. government-recognized), degree-granting, postsecondary institution acceptable to the Department." That means, the courses must be taken at a school, not from anywhere else. If ACE credits were acceptable, it would say something like "credits must be on an accredited postsecondary institution."  So I don't think this is going to work for your purposes.  SDC and Coopersmith come in as courses that have been transferred, and they have a P for Pass or CR for Credit depending on the school. It will be obvious that they were not taken at the school, and then if they ask for the original transcript, you'll get caught.

If you take Coopersmith courses, and use those for the pre-req for the MS program only, then does the MS program provide the needed credits that will be taken at a school?  It doesn't say how many credits are needed.

Also, I would not do a NA program - that makes no sense.  There are VERY few RA schools that will take an NA degree, and either way, there are no NA schools that are cheaper than our cheap RA options here.

Any reason you're doing EU over TESU?

There's 3 paths to eligibility and just completing that particular MS is one path.  The other paths involve getting 120-150 credits and specific accounting credits.  For my situation, I thought that would be the best so I could take advantage of cheaper alternative credit sources. 

As for EU over TESU.  I haven't really looked at TESU, but I can. I chose EU because my credits came from all over the place and EU's Liberal Arts seemed super easy to complete with what I had plus a few easy courses from Sophia. Also, I found out about a low-income grant that I thought I'd be able to get since I lived in NY, but after researching it I found out that I wasn't eligible. At the point, I should have re-evaluated, but I just kept going.

[inor]

If the classes are going to cost $1400... and they should be RA credits...

I would just sign up to take classes at UMPI. All-you-can-finish in 2 months for $1500 and they're RA credits! Plus, you can get an actual Accounting degree with UMPI. Unless you have tuition a reimbursement/discount that only applies for Excelsior, $519 per credit x 3 credits each for cornerstone & capstone + $1400 for classes is waaaay more than you'd spend on a UMPI degree.

I wish I could do this!  I'm in a weird place right now.  I'm 40 now, but in my 20s I changed my major a lot, took out extra student loans for housing, etc. I returned to school recently and I used the little bit I had left at WGU. GenEd classes were easy to accelerate, but I need about a month per class especially now since the classes are a bit harder and I have many other obligations. At my current pace, I need about 2-3 more terms. If my credit wasn't bad, I'd apply for a private student loan or private loan for those terms.

That $1400 is about 7 courses and going to be spread out over the next year and when I get to Excelsior, that will be paid for with the payment plan. If I eat ramen and talk my ex-husband into keeping the kids more, I may be able to afford doing this concurrently so I can finish faster. I would go UMPI but there's no way I'll finish all my courses in 2 months either. For a tougher course, I think the longest I took at WGU was about 3 weeks. But if i go to work early or stay late to study there, I may be able to knock that down a bit.

Edited to add my options. I'm coming in with about 100 credits: about 60 Arts and Science LL credits from CC/WGU and about 40 Business from WGU:

• A: As above. Spend $1400 on Coopersmith and Lawshelf classes. Transfer to EU to complete degree. Graduate CPA ready. (I did some digging and correspondence courses and P/F courses are OK as long as they appear on a RA transcript!)
  
• B: Only take the required courses for a $10k MS at Emporia State: Int Accounting 1 and 2, Taxation and Audit. Transfer into EU, graduate.  
  
• C: I haven't put too much thought into it, but another option I was thinking about was going a NA route just to get a degree. Then find a school that I can get a RA Masters from that will accept it. That way I can get my promotion soonish and then be able to use student loans for the MS.
  

It's been about half a year since you posted this, so you may not see my response, but I think I might have some useful info for you so I'm going to post it regardless.

You mentioned that you're interested in Emporia's MS as one route to CPA eligibility in NY. However, that's a potentially risky choice. If you're looking for a sure thing with regards to a master's, you'll want to attend a program that is either specifically approved by NYS or a program that is accredited by the AACSB in both business and accounting.

"You must complete an accounting program that is accredited by a programmatic accrediting body specialized in accounting that is accepted by the Department. Currently, the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is accepted by the Department. The school must be accredited in business and accounting by AACSB."

That last part about business and accounting really is the kicker. Very few universities (outside of ones in NY) that offer master's degrees in accounting online are AACSB-accredited in business and accounting. However, I can think of two off the top of my head that you may want to look into: Marshall University and the University of Nevada, Reno. However, the UNR program is twice the price and if you don't have an accounting undergrad degree from an AACSB-accredited school, they will treat you as a second-class admit and put you in some sort of remedial program, it seems. Marshall looks like a better choice, both due to cost and less fussy admission requirements.

However, a better option still would be a program that is pre-approved by the NYS Education Department. That way, there will be no doubt that your degree meets the requirements necessary to allow you to become a CPA. Here's a link with the approved programs; search under "search for a program leading to a professional license" and choose CPA-150: https://www2.nysed.gov/heds/IRPSL1.html

As you can see, Emporia isn't on the list. Very few programs that aren't located in NY are; just a couple in Jersey, if I remember correctly. Since Emporia isn't on that list, not is it accredited in business and accounting by the AACSB, it's not a sure thing that graduating from it will make you eligible to become a CPA in NY. 

There's probably a process whereby they review degrees from programs that aren't approved by NYSED or accredited in business and accounting by the AACSB, but why take the risk? Imagine if they told you that your degree wasn't sufficient; then you'd be back at square one, taking a bunch of business and accounting undergrad courses a la carte in an attempt to meet the 150 credit requirements. For that reason, if you see this message, I'd suggest you consider Emporia is a distant third in terms of your options: your first choice should be any program approved by NYSED (the ones offered by state universities will be cheapest), and your second choice should be Marshall or any other program accredited by the AACSB in business and accounting.

Of course, I'm no expert so be sure to double-check on all of this, but that's how I understand the language regarding education and CPA licensure in NYS.

[lonelySamurai]

I know this is kind of off topic, but I am currently studying for family therapy from CooperSmith and I have been hitting the end of course review pretty hard, I recently took the practice question that come along with the course and none of the questions line up with the powerpoint, I was just wondering if someone could tell me if I am studying for it wrong, thank you!