Double majoring in either accounting & finance or in accounting & economics is an excellent plan careerwise.
In order to have enough college credits to sit for the CPA exam in about 48 jurisdictions, one needs an extra year of academic credits (150 semester hours versus 120 semester hours). The final 30 hours can be done in a masters program such as a Master’s Degree in Accounting or a Master’s Degree in Taxation. The Master’s Degree in Taxation tends to be comprised of mostly law school type tax courses.
I have no debt at the moment @Mwfan1921
I am just wondering if staying at the dorms is overrated?
Or should i commute 1 year then dorm the next?
My efc is 29,000
I thought the tuition for UIUC was only $15k/year. How do you get $66k for 2 years? If it costs $15k, you can take the $7500/year federal student loan. With your parents’ $2k and ~$3k from summer work earnings, you’re close. Better to have a yearly gap of ~$3k than ~$25k.
I’m confused by your posts. You said the total cost for tuition, room, and board for a business, finance, economics, accounting type major is:
Where are you getting those numbers? Unless I’m missing something, the cost for tuition, room, and board is:
Loyola: $57k per year
North Central: $51k per year
Depaul: $58k per year
If your parents contribute $2k/year and you take the $7500 federal student loan and earn $3k/summer, you’re still short $40k per year. How will you pay it? You’re looking at close to $100k in debt, and that doesn’t include the interest.
If you need stats to be eligible to enroll in an affordable college, why don’t you take it next semester?
UIUC’s tuition is $15k/year. You could get a degree there with ~$20k of debt. If you take the $6500 federal student loan now and bank it for next year you can pay for the junior year tuition at UIUC with that, the $7500 junior year federal student loan, and your parents’ $2k contribution.
If you earn $3k this summer and $3k next summer you’ll have $6k, plus your parents’ $2k and the $7500 senior federal student loan. That will pay for senior year. Your total debt would be ~$22k. That’s not an unreasonable number.
You can only graduate early if all your classes are accepted AND you can get into the classes you need to graduate early. You can’t count on being able to leapfrog over upperclassmen just because you want to graduate early. Plan to pay for at least 2 full years.
I’m unaware of any states that specify that 150 hours is a master’s degree. Or even that your bachelor’s degree be in accounting. Every state has its own picky education rules, and a bachelor’s in accounting followed by a master’s degree, from a school located in the state you plan to sit for the CPA exam in, is almost certain to meet those rules.
@ucbalumnus No. A student with a lot of AP/dual enrollment credit can get to 150 in 4 years without a masters. A student can also overload and/or take summer courses and get there.
Are you sent on double majoring? If so why? You might not want to it if it requires you to be in school longer than might be necessary.
I still don’t understand the relative costs of each school, where those numbers came from, the time frames above, and how you will pay these costs. What happened to Depaul? I assume in the 3rd bullet where you wrote IL you mean UIC? Someone suggested upthread that you might consider taking out the $6,500 Direct student loan this year, even though it seems you don’t need it…but you can bank it for the next couple of years and then take out $7,500 each of your junior and senior years.
For UIUC do you have the stats to get into Geis as a transfer? Have you visited and attended a transfer info session? If not, do so and take the opportunity to speak a transfer admissions counselor re: your credits…because your plan noted above doesn’t make sense…and again, you should speak with an transfer admissions counselor at all of these schools…working thru the online transfer worksheets (if that’s what you did) can be less than straightforward.
@austinmshauri OP can not commute to UIUC (U of IL at Urbana Champaign), so you have to add room and board to your COA numbers. OP CAN commute to UIC (U of IL Chicago), which as of right now he doesn’t prefer, but might be their least costly path to a bachelor’s degree.
In Illinois, you need 150 semester credit hours to sit for the CPA exam. You can do this via a grad degree or in some cases an undergrad degree only…but either way you need 150 semester credit hours. See requirements and options here (pdf file ‘current requirements’): https://www.ilboe.org/getting-started/process-overview/
If law school is in your future, why spend the probable extra time/$ to get enough credits to sit for the CPA exam? On top of that, I have concerns that an accounting degree will not necessarily be the best prep to score high on the LSAT…please speak with a pre-law adviser either at your CC or at one of your intended transfer schools to make sure you fully vet this plan.
Thank you for the clarification. I didn’t realize they were different schools. OP was worried about not having stats, but the only math courses that seem to be required for UIC’s accounting or business majors are calc 1 and calc 2. If he’s had those, UIC might be a good option.
If I remember OP’s other threads correctly, the plan was to take the federal student loan and have the parents borrow the rest. @myos1634 and @thumper1 might remember better, but my impression is the majority of the net costs will be paid for with PLUS loans. OP had some difficulty last year figuring out the aid packages and what the true costs would be, so I’m concerned for him.
Bubblytaco, it would be helpful if you listed the direct costs (tuition and fees, room, meal plan) and expected scholarships like you did last year. Are those grants guaranteed? Where will the rest of the money come from?
@bubblytaco, I reread your thread from last year. This is essentially the same thread with different schools. You have 3 colleges with net costs of ~$24k to ~$40k per year and your only sources of filling the gap are your parents’ $1k contribution and your ~$3k/year summer work earnings. Is that still true?
At the end of that thread you said your best option, since you planned to go to law school, was to take the cheapest option and minimize debt. It seemed like the plan was to attend cc then commute to an IL state school whose tuition was ~$15k/year. What happened in the last 6 months to change that plan?
It looks like your new plan is to have your parents cosign ~$26k to $58k of PLUS loans for undergrad (on top of the $15k junior/senior federal student loans), and then you’re going to borrow to pay for law school too. Is that the case or am I missing something? I wouldn’t borrow ~$40k for undergrad when you can get a degree for half that using only federal student loans.
I give the op credit. It’s hard going to school without funds. But he seems to be not clear on many things especially costs. This bothers me if he is planning on going into finance /accounting.
As stated don’t double major if it takes longer. Most double majors don’t give an advantage anyway. You can always major /minor or just take some extra classes or join a club /group to learn about the subset.
Unless I am not understanding… Why not get your major, Then get a job. Study for the LSAT (if you intend to go into law) and this way you can save up money if you want to go into law
Might want to consider working and paying down any loans you will have THEN going into law school. I would not accumulate debt on top of debt. Not a recipe for success.
As asked can you state what loans that you have gotten so far whether personal or like Pell etc and what money you contributed so far from your working or parents. Maybe a breakdown? You are lucky since really smart people (not me) are trying to help you but they need more information from you to be able to do so.
Yes, hello what are you guys needing information about? I got my numbers through the net price calculator. And i will take your considerations. I am now aware that majoring in accounting would not be a good choose. I didn’t receive a financial aid package yet so these are rough estimates.
Do whatever it takes to keep you debt as low as you can.
If that means going to a school you don’t think is your favorite, you should go to that school that is not your favorite.
If that means not living on campus so you don’t have to pay R&B, you should not live on campus.
If that means having a single major instead of a double major, you should take the single major.
If that means staying in CC for one more year because it will be much cheaper than starting this year at a 4-yr school, you should remain in CC one more year.
Life is long. Debt is unforgiving and large debt combined with modest income can be soul crushing. It is great that you are keeping your eyes on the prize of a degree and then a law degree. However, don’t forget to also keep you eyes on the almost-as-important prize of low debt. Your 35 year-old self will love you so much if you keep your debt to a minimum.