Assistance appreciated.

[lidel]

lidel, I initially did think about the Big 3. I live in the United States and want to pursue the CPA designation and want to do it in my home state. Unfortunately, my state is very restrictive on alternate credit being used to meet the educational requirement to sit for the exam. So, I needed to take my accounting and related coursework at a college or university. If I needed to do that, why not just finish the entire degree at that college/university?  I didn’t know anything about competency-based programs like UMPI YourPace before joining this message board, so I really appreciate all that I have learned here.

As far as UMPI goes, I think it’s great. I have kids, a 40 hour/wk job, and am generally very busy. I love that I don’t have deadlines with UMPI (other than the end of the term, obviously). I am not going nearly as fast as some people on this board, but I am perfectly fine with that. I have found all the people associated with the university/program to be really helpful and easy to deal with. I also have found the materials and information to be very good. I think I have definitely learned a lot and UMPI has certainly helped me toward my goal of becoming a CPA.

One other thing I will mention to you: my initial interest in exam based/alternate credit education was the Oxford Brookes/ACCA BSc program.  For this program, you take 11 (I believe that’s the number, check the materials if you are interested) ACCA exams and then do a final course/project through Oxford Brookes University and earn the ACCA credential and the BSc.  Cost-wise, I think it’s pretty competitive with a Big3/UMPI degree. I didn’t end up doing this because of a) my concerns about CPA in my state, b) the ACCA credential isn’t really known or useful in the US, and c) there aren’t any testing centers near me (the closest for me is probably hundreds of miles away in Toronto). If you happen to live in/near Toronto, Calgary, or Vancouver (the Canadian testing sites), this might be something to consider.

Links:

https://www.brookes.ac.uk/business/under...ccounting/

https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student...esbsc.html

https://www.accaglobal.com/ie/en/student...-list.html

Thanks for the links regarding Oxford/Brookes ACCA. I don't live close by either of those areas, so it would not be a fit for me either.

I'm also interested in the CPA designation as a second career now that I'm getting older and am an established business owner. I was initially concerned about the BA vs BS thing, but on further reading, it seems the most important thing is the courses that you take in the degree. 

I'm in a situation that is similar to you, full-time work/family etc, and was wondering how many courses you are able to do comfortably per eight-week session with so much else on your plate? I'm generally a pretty good student, but it's been a long while since I have been back at school. If I did the Sophia courses for my first 90 credits then transferred in for the last 30 I'm trying to figure out roughly how many sessions it would take me to do the final 10 courses through UMPI. 

Am I correct in reading that there is no capstone/cornerstone required?

Also, may I ask how it works with proctoring exams? I am curious because one of the sites, Study.com used an online test/proctoring system that had minimum internet speeds requirements that sadly, my little one-trick pony town do not offer. 

Thank you for all your help.