[youknowwhatyouknow]

I only need a few credit hours to fulfill my accounting hours requirement. My work will give me up $2,500 per year for graduate coursework (and I am not opposed to spending a little of my own money as well). It seems like I should be able to find a school that offers a 3 credit hour graduate course for $2,500 or less though.

My main concern is flexibility and availability of course offerings. I am interested in taking an advance financial or managerial accounting class, or one with a focus on M&A accounting. Because I only need a few credit hours, I would need to be in a program in which I would not need to take any pre-reqs and could start with the more advanced classes.

My work can also get pretty busy, so I need a program where I have some time to complete the course (so Kaplan and Becker’s 6-8 week time to complete their courses is too fast for me.)

As a quick recap, I am looking for:

1) Graduate accounting course

2) Preferably $2,500 or less for a three credit hour course

3) Flexibility to take more advanced financial or managerial accounting classes first (would especially like to take an M&A accounting course)

4) Need class where I have plenty of time to complete it.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Study Monk]

I will try to beat tough kitty to the punch….

https://www.cba.csus.edu/graduate/MSA.html

I don't know if this will meet your time line but its an ACCSB accredited which is important to some.

Or you can try Golden Gate University. You didn't specify if you wanted to follow through with the actual masters, but you can take half of the classes online towards a masters at their university. They have some unique class offerings, My posting is a little California biased.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

I will try to beat tough kitty to the punch….

https://www.cba.csus.edu/graduate/MSA.html

I don't know if this will meet your time line but its an ACCSB accredited which is important to some.

Or you can try Golden Gate University. You didn't specify if you wanted to follow through with the actual masters, but you can take half of the classes online towards a masters at their university. They have some unique class offerings, My posting is a little California biased.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Anonymous]

What are your goals with this education – to learn as much as possible, to stay as close to budget as possible, to get the credits as easily as possible, etc? To build towards a degree or just meet the requirements?

I used Thomas Edison State College for some of my undergraduate work and they do offer Master's level as well, $600/credit: https://www.tesc.edu/tuition/Graduate-Tuition.cfm I haven't done their graduate work, but my impression is that they'd be easier to work with, but less instructor involvement, so you'd have to be happy learning from a book or happy to pass regardless of how much you learned. I don't think they offer a MAcc, so not the place to build towards a degree! Graduate accounting classes are listed on page 80 here: https://www.tesc.edu/documents/College_Catalog.pdf

If you don't plan to get a Master's and just need 6 accounting credits, I would strongly recommend Louisiana State University's undergraduate online courses: https://is.lsu.edu/courselist.asp?cat=Accounting&nid=102&pg= $500 or so per *class* and a ridiculous amount of flexibility! This is where I took almost all of my accounting undergrad classes. Their courses that are marked “online” are 8 weeks – 6 months long (self-paced within those parameters) and all online (including the exams). Classes marked “web-enabled” are up to 9 months long, minimum is restricted in the form of “only 3 homework submissions per week”, so a 15-lesson class would be minimum of 5 weeks long. Web-enabled as face-to-face exams, but they can be administered by librarians, full-time college staff, etc., so while it requires a face-to-face meeting, it doesn't require a specific location. LSU has a good Master's program, too, but as I'm looking, I think that it is face-to-face only (my international employer's CFO got her Master's from there 😛 ).

[Anonymous]

What are your goals with this education – to learn as much as possible, to stay as close to budget as possible, to get the credits as easily as possible, etc? To build towards a degree or just meet the requirements?

I used Thomas Edison State College for some of my undergraduate work and they do offer Master's level as well, $600/credit: https://www.tesc.edu/tuition/Graduate-Tuition.cfm I haven't done their graduate work, but my impression is that they'd be easier to work with, but less instructor involvement, so you'd have to be happy learning from a book or happy to pass regardless of how much you learned. I don't think they offer a MAcc, so not the place to build towards a degree! Graduate accounting classes are listed on page 80 here: https://www.tesc.edu/documents/College_Catalog.pdf

If you don't plan to get a Master's and just need 6 accounting credits, I would strongly recommend Louisiana State University's undergraduate online courses: https://is.lsu.edu/courselist.asp?cat=Accounting&nid=102&pg= $500 or so per *class* and a ridiculous amount of flexibility! This is where I took almost all of my accounting undergrad classes. Their courses that are marked “online” are 8 weeks – 6 months long (self-paced within those parameters) and all online (including the exams). Classes marked “web-enabled” are up to 9 months long, minimum is restricted in the form of “only 3 homework submissions per week”, so a 15-lesson class would be minimum of 5 weeks long. Web-enabled as face-to-face exams, but they can be administered by librarians, full-time college staff, etc., so while it requires a face-to-face meeting, it doesn't require a specific location. LSU has a good Master's program, too, but as I'm looking, I think that it is face-to-face only (my international employer's CFO got her Master's from there 😛 ).

[sonygal57]

I found that Western international university…west.edu…has some of the lowest per credit costs for upper level accounting classes. They offer interactive online classes which means you would have to commit to a couple hours one night a week to attend class (online). I think they are really good about accepting transfer classes so it might be something to look into if more desirable schools will not work with the transfer credits.

Good old Gandalf, "All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is give to us."
"Not all those who wander are lost."

FAR: I slayed the Dragon!
BEC: I defeated the Siren!
AUD: I eliminated Medusa!
REG: ?????

[sonygal57]

I found that Western international university…west.edu…has some of the lowest per credit costs for upper level accounting classes. They offer interactive online classes which means you would have to commit to a couple hours one night a week to attend class (online). I think they are really good about accepting transfer classes so it might be something to look into if more desirable schools will not work with the transfer credits.

Good old Gandalf, "All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is give to us."
"Not all those who wander are lost."

FAR: I slayed the Dragon!
BEC: I defeated the Siren!
AUD: I eliminated Medusa!
REG: ?????

[youknowwhatyouknow]

A few clarifying notes:

– I would appreciate an AACSB accredited school, but that is not a requirement for me.

– I am only looking to take a few graduate classes, not get the degree.

– I have taken some LSU courses, but I have used my tuition reimbursement for undergraduate classes and so I need to look at graduate classes.

Thank you all for advice so far. Definitely has given me some options to think about!

[youknowwhatyouknow]

A few clarifying notes:

– I would appreciate an AACSB accredited school, but that is not a requirement for me.

– I am only looking to take a few graduate classes, not get the degree.

– I have taken some LSU courses, but I have used my tuition reimbursement for undergraduate classes and so I need to look at graduate classes.

Thank you all for advice so far. Definitely has given me some options to think about!

[Anonymous]

youknowwhatyouknow

How did you like the LSU classes? I am thinking about completing their certificate program with a couple of classes transferred in. Did you have to proctor any of the exams?

[Anonymous]

youknowwhatyouknow

How did you like the LSU classes? I am thinking about completing their certificate program with a couple of classes transferred in. Did you have to proctor any of the exams?

[Author]

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