<p>Do you have a masters program near you? If you’re going to invest nearly 2 years anyway, you could get a masters in accountancy or business at the same time you get the courses required to sit for the CPA. Entering a master’s program would make you eligible for loans.</p>
<p>carebear makes a valid point. Since you are looking to career change, perhaps you would ber better served professionally to go the MBA route (for non business majors) and major in accounting.</p>
<p>for example:</p>
<p>[Accountancy/CPA</a> — Zicklin School Of Business - Baruch College - CUNY](<a href=“http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/programs/graduate/mba/majors/accountancy.html]Accountancy/CPA”>http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/programs/graduate/mba/majors/accountancy.html)</p>
<p>carebear77 -</p>
<p>I’m guessing that this community college program is WAAAY less expensive than an MS/MBA in Accounting. Since it is specifically designed to prep for the CPA exam, if lindseymalia has evidence that most people who complete it are successful on that exam, then this is the way to go.</p>
<p>lindseymalia,</p>
<p>Make an appointment with the FAO, and sit down with them to get the wording that they want to see in order to appeal for the loan. It is to their advantage to help you with this because it means one more student enrolled which means more money in their coffers.</p>
<p>Happymomof1 is right. Not only is it less expensive it also actually saves me time due to all the pre reqs required to get into a MS program.</p>
<p>Since you mentioned Southern California, you should consider Santa Monica College, which offers an excellent accounting program for post-bacs. SMC even offers some courses online.</p>
<p>[Accounting</a> Program](<a href=“http://www.smc.edu/AcademicPrograms/BusinessDepartment/Pages/Accounting.aspx]Accounting”>http://www.smc.edu/AcademicPrograms/BusinessDepartment/Pages/Accounting.aspx)</p>
<p>Make an appointment with the FAO, and sit down with them to get the wording that they want to see in order to appeal for the loan. It is to their advantage to help you with this because it means one more student enrolled which means more money in their coffers. </p>
<hr>
<p>I agree with this … the financial aid officers are there to help advise you.</p>
<p>In this particular profession, I believe the OP’s situation is not uncommon. Everyone needs some kind of 5th year to sit for the CPA. Colleges with accounting programs know this, and there really are options. Just like with a freshmen entering college, a community college isn’t always cheaper:</p>
<p>Take me for example. I had 2.5yrs worth of credits and an AA degree. Fast forward 10+ years, and I completely switched careers and decided on accounting. I had these offers (and mind you, I had a 3.1 GPA from community college, a huge attendance gap, and NADA accounting experience):</p>
<p>Offer 1: Net price for tuition, fees, and books at the local community college, about $5000 per year. Couldn’t really get loans or qualify for financial aid because I already had an AA degree (I think there was an available appeal avenue for career change/second certificate, but I didn’t investigate).</p>
<p>Offer 2: Few thousand dollars in financial aid offered, $4600 in scholarships (all outside scholarships, but a couple only usable at this university), and I also got a job working for the college that’s related to accounting, for a net price of zero dollars to attend the local public 4-yr Eastern Washington University (tuition, fees, books totally paid for). This is the route I chose…free.</p>
<p>Offer 3: Gonzaga offered me a combo financial/merit/adult returning student package of about $27,000, which would have made the net price to attend around $7,000-8000. </p>
<p>I guess my only point is, it MAY be in the OP’s best interest to check all routes, the same as it is for a freshman student. Honestly, if I got that lucky with my prior GPA and no related experience or grades to show for it (my first full year), then anyone could do the same. There are quite a few scholarship opportunities (given through colleges, or locally or nationally) for adults, women, career changers with no prior accounting experience, etc in the accounting profession.</p>
<p>I chose based solely on net price, so I would also have chosen to take some classes at the community college if that was the cheapest route. But it does seem prudent to investigate other options if there’s a chance it would work out better financially.</p>
<p>It’s a reach, but potentially possible that OP could earn a Master’s degree for the same net price as attending community college. End result would net much higher earning power for the same price and similar time investment. Heck, I would even consider paying a little extra for that opportunity (although not much when you’re starting from nothing).</p>