TESU BSBA accepted by CPA board

[thecontrarian]

Hi everyone, I joined here in spring 2021 when I was just wrapping up HS but for various reasons my college plans had gone off the rails. After bouncing around a bit the new plan I was looking at back then was a BS BA in Accounting from TESU followed by CPA exams. 

Just to provide a final update on this I ended up completing my degree requirements in June this year (total cost ~$6500) with a  final 16 credit term at TESU. Everything apart from the 16 @ TESU was alternative credits, AP, CLEP, SOPHIA, SDC, TEL etc. 

Additionally, I used the TESU unofficial transcript to apply for a CPA board and was accepted this week (candidate approved to sit the exam)! 

For those specifically interested in the CPA boards, most demand 24 Accounting and 24 Business courses and the board I applied to didn't raise any objections at all to the fact that I'd done this thru alternative routes! That's really encouraging for people like us.

Overall I started the studying in Jul 2021 and wrapped it up in 11 months. During that time I was working PT in retail. Not easy, but it is doable for sure.

One little twist, after some posts in this forum about continuing to accrue credits after your 120 is up, I also did an additional 30 credits over summer all as part of my original degree (I've got 150 credits on my transcript) so have already met the CPA academic licensing requirements too. Thats not posted as a humble-brag, but as an FYI to anyone who is put-off by the 5 year academic track for CPA's (yes, it can be done in 1).

I'll post my final degree plan etc to the forum later.

Do I have regrets about missing the college experience? Yes, but I'm pragmatic about it. If I ask my friends its 50/50, some of them love college, some of them don't. I guess over time I got over it. or have learned to deal with it. 

Many thanks to rachel, dfrecore, LevelUp, bjcheung, freeloader, Flelm and everyone else in this forum. You guys really changed my life.

[cerich67]

congrats and all the best for your future! well done

[rachel83az]

Congrats! Good luck on your future career.

[dfrecore]

Congrats! Can you remind us what state you're in so we know that alt-credits work for that state? Maybe someone (not me) should start a wiki page showing what states this works with.

[lisarox]

Congratulations!!!

CPA exam sucks. Good luck!

[bjcheung77]

Do I have regrets about missing the college experience? Yes, but I'm pragmatic about it. If I ask my friends its 50/50, some of them love college, some of them don't. I guess over time I got over it. or have learned to deal with it. 

Wow, congrats on getting the 150 credits! You're awesome, you did five years in one!!! I wouldn't worry about the college experience as most students from 2020/2021 were doing "online courses" anyways as that was the peak of the pandemic. If you want to, you can take courses at the local college/university for the Masters or something similar...

[thecontrarian]

Congrats!  Can you remind us what state you're in so we know that alt-credits work for that state?  Maybe someone (not me) should start a wiki page showing what states this works with.

It was CT.


I live in NJ, but there were some nuances that made the CT board better for me.

I will do the WIKI page (unless there is any rule against it) and focus it on CPA boards and alternative credit. There is lots of variations. Most N/E states are really great for alternative credit. Southern states not so much. Texas is openly hostile.