[joni]

My degree wasn’t in accounting, although I did have a business minor. I’ve already met the 150-credit requirement, but again, most of my classes are not in accounting.

When I decided to change careers and become a CPA, I needed to take one more class to have the 24 “accounting-related” credits to take the exams, which I did, and finally passed the exams. But I still need total 36 “accounting-related” credits to actually get my CPA certification here in Pennsylvania. So I need four more classes (12 credits), which must be “accounting-related” – Accounting, Auditing, Tax, Finance, or Business Law.

Any suggestions for the cheapest online classes?

The only accounting CLEP courses are two beginning accounting classes that I’ve already taken, so that won’t work.

I’ve heard that some MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) will allow you to test out of their classes, with no homework or class attendance – but I can’t find any MOOCs that really do this. Has anyone had experience meeting the CPA requirements this way?

Thank you.

[tg7174]

I've had great experiences with LSU ODL and UCLA Extension classes. I highly recommend those.

[Anonymous]

Hi Joni,
From pennsylvania too (pittsburgh area)
You might want to consult with nasba over this one. If I read the rules correctly, they have to be upper level classes. If not, clarion university is cheap.

[joni]

tg7174 and Audarah, thanks for your suggestions. I checked them out, and (for others with a similar question) here's what I found:

Clarion University shows online classes at $383 per credit; that's $1,149 for a 3-credit class:
https://www.clarion.edu/tuition-and-financial-aid/tuition-and-fees/index.html#row-d13e957

LSU shows a 3-credit class for $728:
https://is.lsu.edu/CurrentIDLfees.asp?nid=401

UCLA web page is not user friendly, but I finally got to the page for the upcoming summer session:
https://www.summer.ucla.edu/fees
clicked on ‘Non-UC US student with a bachelor's degree' added 12 credits, and calculator shows $4,104, or about $1,368 per 3-credit class.

I've also looked into American Public University
https://www.apu.apus.edu/tuition-and-financing/tuition-and-fees/
which shows $270 per credit hour ($810 for 3-credit class) which includes e-books. I was originally planning to take classes there, but customer service is terrible, but I guess you get what you pay for.

Audarah, I emailed the PA Accountancy Board to ask about acceptable classes and they write “The accounting-related courses must be in Accounting, Auditing, Tax, Finance, or Business Law. When we review transcripts, we look at the subject and the title of the course to determine if it would be acceptable.” Where do you see that the classes must be graduate level?

I haven't heard from anybody who's taken MOOCs … anybody out there who's tried them?

[Author]

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