It specifically stated that the only degree required for certification is a bachelor's degree. How come the Board denied your application? You didn't met the experience substitution?
https://www.mass.gov/ocabr/licensee/dpl-boards/pa/faqs.html#e08
Does this mean that I will need a graduate degree to become a CPA?
No. The only degree required for certification is a bachelor's degree, with 150 semester hours of education contained in this degree or supplemented after earning the bachelor's degree. However, the skills and knowledge usually developed in a graduate program (e.g., Masters in Tax, MBA, or Law degree) may be useful in helping CPAs meet client demands. For this reason, the BoPA strongly encourages a graduate education. In addition, the experience requirement is relaxed when one earns the graduate degree (explained in 252 CMR 2.07(2) (b) as follows:
1. If you obtain a graduate degree in accounting from an AACSB accredited accounting program, or one that has been approved by the Massachusetts Board of Public Accountancy as substantially equivalent to an AACSB program, you will not need to meet any specific course requirements of 252 CMR 2.07(2) (a), either accounting or business course subjects.
2. If you earn a graduate degree in accounting from a school that does not fall within the above AACSB category, or if you earn a graduate degree in business administration or law, you will need 18 semester hours (27 quarter hours) of accounting at the graduate level or 30 semester hours (45 quarter hours) at the undergraduate level, or an equivalent combination thereof (undergraduate courses are weighed as 3/5 of graduate courses per this new rule as mentioned above). These courses must include coverage in financial accounting, audit, taxation, and management accounting. In addition, the degree must include or be supplemented by 24 semester hours (36 quarter hours) of business courses (other than accounting courses) at the undergraduate level or 18 semester hours at the graduate level, or an equivalent combination thereof (undergraduate business courses are weighed as 3/4 of graduate courses per this new rule as mentioned).
3. If your highest degree is a bachelor's degree in business, your degree must include or be supplemented by 30 semester hours in accounting with coverage in financial accounting, audit, taxation, and management accounting. In addition, the degree must include, or be supplemented by 24 semester hours in business courses other than accounting courses. These business courses shall include coverage in business law, information systems, finance, and coverage in at least one of the areas of economics, business organizations, professional ethics, and/or business communication.
4. If your degree is not in business, your 30 semester hours in accounting must include at least three semester hours in each of the subject areas of financial accounting, audit, taxation, and management accounting; and your 24 semester hours in business must include at least three semester hours in each of the areas of business law, business information systems, professional ethics and finance. Business courses, other than accounting, in business management of organizations, economics, and/or business communications may be included for the business course requirements.
In all 4 cases herein, the 30 semester hours of undergraduate or 18 semester hours of graduate accounting or business courses do not have to be included in the undergraduate or graduate degrees.
.