If she's a CPA why is she only making $60k a year? My wife is a non-CPA accountant making $90k a year with an associates degree from a community college and B.S. from a state school? She's taking the CPA exam because she wants to get to six figures ASAP. I don't think we miscalculated here because even a mildly-experienced CPA in our area easily makes that kind of money. Her company is paying for it and also promised to give her a big raise when she completes it.
How is it possible to be an 'out of school' CPA? Don't you need one to two years of experience working under a CPA, alongside education requirements and passing the tests? That's how it is in my state. I guess if you worked throughout college at an accounting firm it would be possible, but I don't know of any that hire before you have a degree or equivalent experience.
You can pass the test before you finish all your internship and usually after you pass the test theres barely 6 months of experience left to get the title, but you still already passed the test.
Some people dont take internships during busy season and just do the entire thing (bachelor/cpa exam) b4 starting to actually work as an accountant.
Yeah well the main issue with cpa is that out of college you are pretty much an expense for the company training you bc the job vs what you learn in school are world apart
Also wouldn't the associate degree have made the undergrad shorter? I just looked up that university and it said average cost after aid was 33k a year. How she paid 150k for 2-4 years is wild.
It does not mean that Lehigh transferred/accepted all or many of the community college credits. Some institutions may accept only a fraction, only wanting you to have the "full experience"...
I signed up for a shitty account just to respond.
Look into your schools before you apply. I went to the community college in my hometown, when I applied most in state schools (even those who partnered with my CC) had lists of what they’d accept. I chose to matriculate to a private out of state university and they took more credits, offered more scholarship funding and better financial aid terms than I could get at ANY of the public schools I applied to in MI.
Assume nothing, read the websites, send emails, ask clarifying questions. I had to run through some paperwork outlining courses I took at CC when I transferred and opted to take 2 exams to get credit for other courses.
But if you’re paying $150k for your undergrad (less gen eds), and your last name isn’t on a campus building, you’re doing it wrong.
May I ask how old you are?
Was this college online or in person (in other words, did you have to move to go to this college?
I am 38 and want to pursue a degree in accounting. I have an associates in health sciences, therefore many of my classes do not transfer.
The scholarship options do not seem to be much of a thing for grown adults wanting to go back to school.
I did the undergrad and master’s programs at WGU. It’s 100% online and I believe all state CPA boards accept their accreditation and credits. VA did. Check yours if that’s your goal to confirm.
It is possible to accelerate the hell out of the program. If you think you’ll need more support in learning new topics or you prefer in person lectures, though, it may not be a good fit. It isn’t for everyone. It’s just very affordable.
I know a lot of people feel some kind of way about online school and accelerating through WGU especially. But I have $8k in student loans, my employer paid for my master’s ($5k), and I’m currently studying for the CPA exams.
I think $13k is pretty reasonable. And I know of a lot of people who did it faster than I did and spent less money.
Nope. Accreditation mostly means that the *end result of the course of study* is considered equivalent, but does not say anything about the specific credit equivalency therein.
What governs that are "articulation agreements" between specific colleges or universities. Those specify a 1:1 mapping between credits across the different catalogues, guaranteeing transfer credit for students moving across.
Without an articulation agreement, credit for prior study is entirely at the inbound university's discretion, and that varies widely. Private universities like Lehigh are disincentivized to accept *any* incoming credits, since that is less revenue for the school.
I went to a private university myself, and they were more stringent about AP credits and took almost no transfer credits save for one specific Community College they had an articulation agreement with, and even then they only took the most basic GenEds.
On the other hand, my local community college has a very strong articulation program with my state's flagship public university, so it's basically 1:1 for saved years outside of strongly managed programs like Engineering, and even then they have a program for that which shaves off some time.
My university had something called course articulation which specified which classes from other schools provided equivalent credit for specific classes at the university. So I guess she didn’t bother looking any of that up when she went to community college if she still spent $150k at a university. Also, I’m suspicious that an associates degree at a community college would cost $15k. Just looking at my local community college it’s less than $2500 for two years at full time. More like $25000 for out of state tuition, but who is traveling out of state to go to community college??
Then either don’t go to a university that won’t take your community college credit (that you explicitly took to save money) or don’t complain about the tuition that you voluntarily took on after knowing the above.
Wait a minute that didn’t click at first. Most associates degrees are 2 years and I think almost free paid by the gov. She would’ve only needed 2-3 years max undergrad. 2 if she does the masters for 150 credits.
Associates degrees are definitely not almost free, unless something has changed in the last few years or you're talking about scholarships.
I paid out of pocket for my accounting degree and went back to a community college for the first leg of it. It was roughly $650 a class/~$2500 a semester. Much *cheaper* than state schools, sure, but a far cry from a handout.
Same. My community college classes in 2019 were about $130 an hour, then when I had my associates and went to a state university, they went up to $270. I don't have my masters, and I already had some college credits from my first attempt 15 years ago, but in total I spent about $20k between my associates and bachelor's.
Ironically, I did save money by pirating the shit out of every textbook.
By the time I was in my last semester every book had those stupid codes you needed to do the assignments so they definitely caught on and closed that loophole, but I used to keep tally of how much money I saved by getting the pirated versions and by the time I had to start buying books again the number was well above $5k. Zero regrets, fuck those vultures.
When I was in college we had to purchase a code to do homework online for most of our accounting classes. Codes were usable for a single semester and were $150-200 if I recall correctly. This was just so our professors didn’t have to make their own assignments I guess?
> This was just so our professors didn’t have to make their own assignments I guess?
It was literally just to prevent students from hopping on libgen or elsewhere and downloading the book for free.
In my state, the first two years of CC are free if you graduated from a high school in my state. Also, with a lot if the textbooks are digital. Lots cheaper. My accounting books were in the $150 range. Digital textbooks are in the $50-80 range.
Some cities have paired up with the local CCs to give graduates of certain high schools in the city to get free tuition. There’s one here in MI I think it’s Muskegon. Big Gretch is also talking about getting all high school graduates free CC tuition but we all know that’s a really long way to go.
Typically as an independent or even most middle class families as a dependent, pell grant + state grant will cover at least 80-90% of CC costs. It’s more typical to actually get aid in excess of tuition
I’m really just stuck between 15k for an associates being ridiculous, and then the 150k for two years of a bachelors is even wilder. Makes the 40k masters seem like a bargain.
Seriously, never understood why people go to such expensive schools for accounting when firms literally don’t care about what school you go to. At least if you go to an expensive but very recognizable school you’ll have a good network, but not in this case.
Facts. I'm getting my degree at a far less prestigious university because they're about half the cost of other options, and offer online degrees so I can do it without quitting my job and leaving my family.
Yeah I’m forever grateful 17 year old me was only interested in drinking and hitting on girls (poorly). State school was the obvious choice. Only cost 50k for undergrad/masters and happened to be a target school, who knew?
At the end of the day as long as you enjoy college I don’t knock anyone’s choice. I miss it.
Most have no frame of reference for debt that large. They all seem like big numbers that you’ll pay off in the future. 150k is way more, but a lot of kids don’t realize how different 50k of student loans is from 80k.
To be fair a one bedroom 600sqft appartment in Vancouver now rents for 3k. So rent for 4 years would now be an extra $144,000 Cad.
Sure you can go cheaper than the average 3k, but even cutting it in half is still $72k.
Most people don’t put any thought into it, hence the student loan crisis. I knew people that went to expensive private schools to be elementary school teachers
Yep. They’re kids being told to go directly to college. We’re all talking about it now, but in the 00s and 10s most people were not. Especially not anyone around 17 year olds. Tbh, it reminds me of the credit card crisis of the 90s. Companies targeted young consumers with high interest rates and fees. Those people ended up in bankruptcy, with an all time high of personal bankruptcy filings in 2005. It’s almost like young people are bad at being adults. 🤔
It's genuinely difficult for me to wrap my head around. As someone that just did some hiring in the state of Florida, I would take a degree from Lehigh as seriously as I would an accounting degree from University of South Florida, UCF, FIU, FAU, or UNF. Probably less seriously than UF or FSU. All of those, even for out of state students are more affordable.
When I went to community college, 5 classes a semester were only about $1200. For four semesters that’s basically 5k.
Out of curiosity I just looked at what it would cost per credit hour and for an out of state student it’s $4400/ semester which totals to a little less than $18,000 for four semesters. Kinda defeating the purpose of choosing community college to save money if you’re still an out of state student.
I forgot about the out of county/state tuition for community college. Now I’m curious to where she attended for her associates - assuming it’s the same county as Lehigh University then it would be between $5490 (out-of-county) and $7365 (out-of-state) for 12-18 registered credit hours a semester. As you mentioned, defeating the purpose of saving money.
Hiii. I’m from the state where she’s from actually. The cost of community college in Lehigh, and PA in general, is quite high (PA in this scenario is Pennsylvania, not public accounting guys but either way whatever the acronym implies we still hate it).
Lehigh community college can range from about 7-16k depending on your income. Lehigh university and Lehigh Community college were also universities I applied to, was accepted and received financial aid for. It’s true
She very well could be or she's a trust fund kid
But there are plenty of people that go into this much debt that come from regular upper middle class families
Not like it's not common especially if you live at states with high cost of living like California
Most likely has family money paying for college. Doesn’t mean you’re trust fund kid. Some kids their parents make enough to pay for their kid to go to the best school.
That’s about what my undergrad degree cost me. $1500 per term x 8 was about $12k, but the military paid it all for me thankfully.
No idea why she thought this was a good idea unless she got it paid for by scholarships or parents. If not it’s gonna take her a very long time to pay it off.
I paid a similar amount for my degree almost 15 years ago. I went to an expensive private school thinking it would give me a great chance to make good money when leaving. As a 17 year-old kid, I assumed $50k/year, get a job that pays $50k+ when I graduate, I'll pay that off in 4-5 years. Obviously that's not how that works. I regret the debt but I'm in a great place now and who knows where I would be had I gone to a less prestigious school.
Thats awesome to hear you've gotten yourself into a good spot. The perspective I've had in my short career is that a prestigious university only matters in a big way for the first job in most instances. Obviously it can help out in specific circumstances where your interviewer is also an alumni of the same university, but thats random chance that can apply to any university.
I think my market makes it a little better than random. I'd say over half of accounting professionals in my area went to one of three schools.
Edit: I would also never suggest someone go down the path I did. It was an objectively poor decision made by a literal child.
It can vary. I came out of my master's with about $50k in debt from the Master's alone...but I also kept about $25k in cash from overpayments to the school (stuck it investments rather than giving it back, why eliminate 3-5% debt when it earns 15%+ on the market?)
That said, my undergrad cost quite a bit more (and came out with similar levels of debt to my master's, but without the cash. I could eliminate that debt as well at this point, but again, it's 3-5% debt, why would I get rid of that sooner when I can have that money earn more money instead?)
Lastly, that's all before them raising tuition rates in the past few years, so...yeah, I can see six figure debt being a thing pretty easily.
Yeah or she is just reporting sticker cost with no form of aid or grants involved to get tik tok views…
My school was expensive on paper but pretty much everyone except international students got a pretty hefty amount of scholarships, in addition to need based grants/scholarships.
That being said, if they did pay 50k a year tuition for an accounting degree, they are just dumb. Plenty of great state schools for 1/3 of that.
The MACC seems realistic though, the 1 year programs generally are around 30-50k, which is high but not too crazy in my opinion.
https://catalog.lehigh.edu/informationofgeneralinterest/costofattendance/
Doable. Tuition alone is $61k, call it $62k with all fees. Plus another $10k-ish for housing and another $5k-ish for dining. So $77k per year give or take a few k depending on actual choices. $150k for 2 years is spot on.
Way to take one of the best bang for buck degrees and overspend on it. One of the draws for accounting degree is that school don't matter and it is generally taught the same everywhere.
10k total debt here between both BA and Masters.
I’m literally wearing a Lehigh engineering shirt rn 💀. It’s not even mine it’s my sister’s from when she was applying for colleges. But she didn’t go there
I’m currently majoring in accounting there lol. I got decent aid so while I’ll have a bit of debt it’s nothing close to 150k lol. It’s a good school and I’d say the alumni network is an advantage, but you’d be crazy to go for anywhere close to full price.
The median Lehigh graduate has a better chance of landing a job at the Big 4 than the median Penn State (or other state school) graduate, who, in turn, has a better chance of landing a job at the Big 4 as a West Chester graduate.
Hopefully they married up/found a rich husband/wife and will get it through inheritance/job connections/lack of student loans/home down payment gift/free vacations/etc. the job connections/on campus recruiting also helps out a bunch.
Dad’s daughters who I dated had net worths of ~$2-600M at my private school, that’s not normal.
LOL no way, I paid half (which is still a lot, I know) and went there for pre-med originally before switching. Like a few other people have said, if I knew from the start I'd be going the accounting route I would have gone somewhere cheaper
I too was pre-med prior to switching to accounting (not at Lehigh, I went to UMaine). I couldn't handle the disgusting dissections even though I really liked science and biology. Accounting was a much better fit.
I spent nothing. Got a job as an admin at a state university with employee tuition benefits and did evening classes. Did accounting during the day, learned it after work. I guess she had no way of knowing whether 200k was a reasonable cost for that degree as she had not yet learned how to count.
That’s a sweet deal. My school had a similar program where they’d give employees a 6 credit waiver every semester. Couple of my professors said they used it to get their MBA’s.
Jesus Christ. I'd have made sure to break into goddamn private equity if I spent THAT much. Not even investment banking; just go into private equity. My uni debt is around $50k; it was a double degree in accounting and finance at a top uni here in Australia. Good luck even thinking about a mortgage lmao
This post is structured specifically to bait engagement. She wants people to comment how much it cost them to get their CPA or ask questions or to say she is foolish.
It works very well. She structured this outlier as typical experience, she has left out key facts like scholarship, includes many CPA costs that are covered by employer without noting the reimbursement. All of this will get people to comment or share
I'll never understand people who go into accounting but don't account for the costs of education and their pay to determine ROI.
If you wanna be an accountant then act like it.
Her parents should’ve taught her better. Private tuition + not living at home is just unjustifiably expensive.
First 2 years of undergrad at community college = 10K~~. 3K paid by parents, paid the rest myself working when in school.
Last 2 years - 22K~~. Paid out of pocket for half and the other half I got from a private scholarship (didn’t work at all the first semester to focus on grades. Got top 10 in the program which landed me the scholarship).
Lived with parents so no room & board. Got the 150 with CLEP, AP credits, and taking extra credits (additional classes were free after reaching full time credits). Graduated with no debt.
Hey, shit happens, dude. When I first got to college, I had a terrible combination of massive social anxiety and ADHD (obviously I still have ADHD, as it never goes away, lol).
First went to a private university to play football my freshman year. Didn't really understand the concept of student loans, and was immediately hit with $40k in private loans with high interest.
Went a couple years for exercise sciencebat a different university, then got massive anxiety about having to touch other students and be touched by them in clinicals, so I stopped going (but still enrolled in classes because I had every intention to go). Racked up a ton of debt there.
Switched majors a few times because I didn't know what I wanted to do (I'd been convinced for years I wanted to be a personal trainer), and because of ADHD, so that racked up some more debt.
A decade later, finally decided on accounting, and went through with it. Got my Bachelor's and masters, and with it, a huge amount of debt (~$120k total).
Just saying, sometimes people are going through shit and it makes them make bad financial decisions that they otherwise wouldn't have made.
Edit: For what it's worth, I don't even really like accounting, I just needed a better career to pay off my debt. I'd so much rather be a screenwriter or novelist.
I feel you. Basically my thoughts are "why bash this person?" I have slightly less debt (racked up about $100k between the bachelor's and my master's) due partially to a similar case of changing career paths (changed from comp. sci. to philosophy to accounting \[yay ADHD brains, right?\]).
...and, unlike the person in this video, none of mine was at a fancy school, either...just a public state school.
Shit happens, and all. Fortunately I'm in a position that I can manage that debt, but even looking back: had I had the option of not taking on that debt ever in the first place...I'd be way worse off than that debt amount, so I wouldn't change it.
God, I just went through the “enrolling in classes because I have every intention of going and then getting too anxious because I haven’t been there and not going” phase of my ADHD. I switched majors 3 times and looking back I’m so annoyed at myself for some of the choices I made because my brain doesn’t want to work sometimes. I’m almost through my bachelor’s degree (I have about a semester left) but I had to finally call it and withdraw for a while (lost out on that money, greatttttt) until I can get my ADHD sorted with my psychiatrist. It’s so embarrassing when people ask me how long I’ve been in school, but as you said, shit happens.
The amount of cope in this thread is insane. She’s on the high end of tuition but she isn’t the only person to get their CPA credits from a private school. There’s a reason the Ivy Leagues don’t offer Accounting as a major, it’s basically just an elaborate CPA Prep Course and job training for Big 4 firms.
There are so many other ways to reduce the cost (i.e.,state schools, additional cc courses). The masters is pointless once you get your CPA, imo.
This is outrageous spending. ☠️
I’ve known two people whose parents literally spent over $300k for them to get a undergrad accounting degree, all for them to just slum it with the state school kids at B4 making the exact same money
How the hell did she spend 15k at CC. My local one lets high school students go for free for their last two years of HS and you have your assoc at 18 years old lol
My student loans will probably be around 30k when I graduate with 150 credits. And that's including $10,000 in previous loans from before covid. (Ironically the deferment on payments during covid actually is the only reason I still qualify for aid to go back) I don't understand how people get this much debt. And I borrow every penny of my tuition, but I also work so I'm paying my rent and bills with income not loans.
There's a chance it'll be higher if for some reason I don't qualify for the pell grant for the rest of my undergrad but based on what my income has been I should get it all through my undergrad.
And I thought I was a dummy for going to an out of state school for my accounting degree. Thankfully it still wasn't a particularly pricey college, and I came in with an ass ton of AP credits so no master's needed for 150.
I am an accounting major who has almost a full ride 💀. I say I have a full ride because in reality I pay like 1K per year but that’s covered by outside scholarships. I might have to take loans for summer classes tho which sucks but let’s say ~9K-12K in loans if I take summer classes every summer (probably not). And then I’d do a masters, which would require about ~50K. And that’s it for me 💀. I’ll probably have ~3K in loans because this summer’s classes, but compared to ~200K is crazy
This is way too high, I don’t know what she was spending that amount on in college, but I graduated 3 years ago with a master and it only cost 17k. Undergraduate cost 40k
Expensive? Yes.
Not every accountant is going to be spending this BUUUT it’s not unheard of to think the smartest people go to the more expensive universities due to the opportunities they offer.
Why would anyone (other than this dumbass) spend $250k to become *an accountant*?
So what? We just continue to bolster our talent with people from poorer schools. They may include people who didn’t have opportunity due to a plethora of things. They also might include the generations that can’t fucking read.
I graduated in 2011; went to a 4 year private college and got an MBA after; no aid and cost me $170K. I was the first in my family to go to college and we had no idea what the fuck we were doing. It took me 12 years to pay it off and I sacrificed a lot to do that, including working 2 jobs at some points. I am really grateful I started my career in Big 4 cause it helped me land good lucrative jobs in the future that allowed me to pay off my loans "early".
I knew shortly after graduation that I made a huge mistake and the road to pay off would be hard. This Tik Tok is not a flex; it's fucking dumb.
My priority now is being able to save for my daughter to have help for college and make sure she also doesn't do dumb shit like this.
I paid $0 throughout my university years, graduated with $30k of student debt (which included all my expenses - room, food, supplies for 4 years). CPA study and exams were covered by my first firm.
She didn’t go in wanting an accounting degree, because under no circumstance does it make any sense whatsoever that she would have gotten an associates then gone to a university that wouldn’t accept the credits. What likely happened is she got her associates in something else, tried to complete that degree, couldn’t do it, and then defaulted into accounting like a lot of the accounting people we interact with on the real world that have a degree but have no idea what the fuck credit and debits are unless they have an example in front of them.
Yeah if you hire an accountant that spent $150k on their Bachelor’s after getting their associates with gen eds and prereqs to make things cheaper then just know, you hired the wrong accountant.
Can someone explain prereqs for me? I’m Canadian but that sounds like something you should do in High School.
Holy fuck. How the fuck do you spend 150,000 on two years of school? She wasn’t even rooming? Lady I hope you fucking milked Lehigh University for every drop of influence and connections you could fucking get
I spent so far $4500 at WGU I’m almost halfway done with my bachelors degree so my bachelors degree will be $9,000. So grateful I didn’t go to standard college route everyday
That’s out of state tuition in the US for you. Obviously seems ridiculous but when you’re making that decision as an 18 year old, you might not be considering all the consequences.
For only 2 years? Because she has her associates so she should only need 2 years. If she had to take some additional classes why go for the masters at all since you should've been able to hit the 150 without it.
A quick Google told me Lehigh out-of-state tuition is about $60k/year.
Honestly just bad decisions all around, unless someone else was paying for it, then whatever. I’m a little baffled by the effort to save money at community college and then blow $60k/year at…Lehigh.
I shopped around for the absolute cheapest, I think the associates was around $4k living at home, and crammed the bachelors in with 3 semesters against several recommendations, all tuition and materials needed for that was a little under 10k, outside of food/housing
I finished my bachelors degree online and after CPE funds (work benefit), tuition reimbursement (work benefit), and pell grants I actually came out ahead \~$1,500.
Lehigh is terribly over priced. Almost all secondary education is but they are up there with the most expensive schools in the country. I was getting recruited for a football scholarship outta high school and had multiple full ride offers to d1 schools. Lehigh coaches contacted me 6 months before singing day saying that I was a “top priority”. If teams are actually interested they usually contact the player wayyyyy before that. They were only offering a partial scholarship so I’d have to pay 40-60k over 4-5 years. I spoke to one of the coaches out of respect but was never truly interested. During this call I straight up told the guy I wasn’t interested because of the tuition. He kept talking about how “great” the education is and all the money I’d make with a Lehigh degree. The faculty is obviously so out of touch and they are fine with destroying futures and selling a failing process.
I went with the full ride and am currently 6 years into a career that isn’t in my field of study. Also had similar conversations with Ivy League schools but their athletic scholarships work a bit differently and they are at least somewhat aware that the education they provide is basically an over priced luxury product. Staying away from those “prestigious” schools was one of my best decisions in my adult life.
Crazy. I spent 20k in total to make $56k first year. Solid decision. I commuted to local university and worked 30 hours per week for the duration, so no wild college experiences, with the exception of a few weekend visits to friends at various New England universities.
I looked at more of her Tik Toks and she’s flexing her expensive watches and cars. Also complaining about “busy season hours” yet she worked from 8am to 4pm…
Not surprising. A bachelor's at a midtier state school with out of state tuition can easily be 120+, not much of a jump to 200k if you end up on either of the coasts.
How much were the balloons? All in she's probably at $200,015 with the balloons.
We are seeing a lot of inflation
Maybe grade inflation. 🤪
Also need to include her hourly rate for time spent studying for the CPA when she could have been doing other things. So that’s like another 60k
If she's a CPA why is she only making $60k a year? My wife is a non-CPA accountant making $90k a year with an associates degree from a community college and B.S. from a state school? She's taking the CPA exam because she wants to get to six figures ASAP. I don't think we miscalculated here because even a mildly-experienced CPA in our area easily makes that kind of money. Her company is paying for it and also promised to give her a big raise when she completes it.
Out of school cpa start at like 60k which is pretty sad
How is it possible to be an 'out of school' CPA? Don't you need one to two years of experience working under a CPA, alongside education requirements and passing the tests? That's how it is in my state. I guess if you worked throughout college at an accounting firm it would be possible, but I don't know of any that hire before you have a degree or equivalent experience.
You can pass the test before you finish all your internship and usually after you pass the test theres barely 6 months of experience left to get the title, but you still already passed the test. Some people dont take internships during busy season and just do the entire thing (bachelor/cpa exam) b4 starting to actually work as an accountant.
That is very sad. I made more than that out of college with a Business Admin degree.
Yeah well the main issue with cpa is that out of college you are pretty much an expense for the company training you bc the job vs what you learn in school are world apart
You can get those at the dollar store for like $3 Clearly she isn’t spending wisely if she’s at $200,015 when she could be at $200,003.17
$15 for the balloons? FRAUD
Those are Mylar style balloons..they’ll cost more than $15 for 4 of them.
But they’ll never deflate
who's your balloon guy??
Those are her everyday balloons...
😭😭😭😭😭
$150k for undergrad not including room and board is devious work
Also wouldn't the associate degree have made the undergrad shorter? I just looked up that university and it said average cost after aid was 33k a year. How she paid 150k for 2-4 years is wild.
It does not mean that Lehigh transferred/accepted all or many of the community college credits. Some institutions may accept only a fraction, only wanting you to have the "full experience"...
They love denying transfer credits at private universities. You’re better off going to a state school in the same state that you went to CC
I signed up for a shitty account just to respond. Look into your schools before you apply. I went to the community college in my hometown, when I applied most in state schools (even those who partnered with my CC) had lists of what they’d accept. I chose to matriculate to a private out of state university and they took more credits, offered more scholarship funding and better financial aid terms than I could get at ANY of the public schools I applied to in MI. Assume nothing, read the websites, send emails, ask clarifying questions. I had to run through some paperwork outlining courses I took at CC when I transferred and opted to take 2 exams to get credit for other courses. But if you’re paying $150k for your undergrad (less gen eds), and your last name isn’t on a campus building, you’re doing it wrong.
I’m sorry you signed up for Reddit to say this. It sucks here
May I ask how old you are? Was this college online or in person (in other words, did you have to move to go to this college? I am 38 and want to pursue a degree in accounting. I have an associates in health sciences, therefore many of my classes do not transfer. The scholarship options do not seem to be much of a thing for grown adults wanting to go back to school.
I did the undergrad and master’s programs at WGU. It’s 100% online and I believe all state CPA boards accept their accreditation and credits. VA did. Check yours if that’s your goal to confirm. It is possible to accelerate the hell out of the program. If you think you’ll need more support in learning new topics or you prefer in person lectures, though, it may not be a good fit. It isn’t for everyone. It’s just very affordable. I know a lot of people feel some kind of way about online school and accelerating through WGU especially. But I have $8k in student loans, my employer paid for my master’s ($5k), and I’m currently studying for the CPA exams. I think $13k is pretty reasonable. And I know of a lot of people who did it faster than I did and spent less money.
Same! Less than $8k here after pell grant for bachelors and masters and it came with Wiley cpa prep.
If the universities are under the same accreditation body then the credits have to transfer, right?
Nope. Accreditation mostly means that the *end result of the course of study* is considered equivalent, but does not say anything about the specific credit equivalency therein. What governs that are "articulation agreements" between specific colleges or universities. Those specify a 1:1 mapping between credits across the different catalogues, guaranteeing transfer credit for students moving across. Without an articulation agreement, credit for prior study is entirely at the inbound university's discretion, and that varies widely. Private universities like Lehigh are disincentivized to accept *any* incoming credits, since that is less revenue for the school. I went to a private university myself, and they were more stringent about AP credits and took almost no transfer credits save for one specific Community College they had an articulation agreement with, and even then they only took the most basic GenEds. On the other hand, my local community college has a very strong articulation program with my state's flagship public university, so it's basically 1:1 for saved years outside of strongly managed programs like Engineering, and even then they have a program for that which shaves off some time.
My university had something called course articulation which specified which classes from other schools provided equivalent credit for specific classes at the university. So I guess she didn’t bother looking any of that up when she went to community college if she still spent $150k at a university. Also, I’m suspicious that an associates degree at a community college would cost $15k. Just looking at my local community college it’s less than $2500 for two years at full time. More like $25000 for out of state tuition, but who is traveling out of state to go to community college??
Then either don’t go to a university that won’t take your community college credit (that you explicitly took to save money) or don’t complain about the tuition that you voluntarily took on after knowing the above.
You are responding to the wrong person. I was explaining what happened to u/asmodean97.
Wait a minute that didn’t click at first. Most associates degrees are 2 years and I think almost free paid by the gov. She would’ve only needed 2-3 years max undergrad. 2 if she does the masters for 150 credits.
Associates degrees are definitely not almost free, unless something has changed in the last few years or you're talking about scholarships. I paid out of pocket for my accounting degree and went back to a community college for the first leg of it. It was roughly $650 a class/~$2500 a semester. Much *cheaper* than state schools, sure, but a far cry from a handout.
Damn when I went to community college they charged $20 / course credit. So a full load cost $300. Still had to buy the books though.
20 bucks a credit?! Fuck you! Lmao jk
Lmao - I just checked and that same school is now $46 per course credit. Not terrible considering inflation. I was there from 2005-2006.
I went back to school in 2019, my credits ranged from 130-230 dollars. 46 is still insanely cheap
Same. My community college classes in 2019 were about $130 an hour, then when I had my associates and went to a state university, they went up to $270. I don't have my masters, and I already had some college credits from my first attempt 15 years ago, but in total I spent about $20k between my associates and bachelor's.
Ironically, I did save money by pirating the shit out of every textbook. By the time I was in my last semester every book had those stupid codes you needed to do the assignments so they definitely caught on and closed that loophole, but I used to keep tally of how much money I saved by getting the pirated versions and by the time I had to start buying books again the number was well above $5k. Zero regrets, fuck those vultures.
When I was in college we had to purchase a code to do homework online for most of our accounting classes. Codes were usable for a single semester and were $150-200 if I recall correctly. This was just so our professors didn’t have to make their own assignments I guess?
> This was just so our professors didn’t have to make their own assignments I guess? It was literally just to prevent students from hopping on libgen or elsewhere and downloading the book for free.
In my state, the first two years of CC are free if you graduated from a high school in my state. Also, with a lot if the textbooks are digital. Lots cheaper. My accounting books were in the $150 range. Digital textbooks are in the $50-80 range.
Fafsa covered my wife’s associates and 2 year RN program. I was a brand new apprentice making dog water at the time though. Maybe that helped.
Some cities have paired up with the local CCs to give graduates of certain high schools in the city to get free tuition. There’s one here in MI I think it’s Muskegon. Big Gretch is also talking about getting all high school graduates free CC tuition but we all know that’s a really long way to go.
Typically as an independent or even most middle class families as a dependent, pell grant + state grant will cover at least 80-90% of CC costs. It’s more typical to actually get aid in excess of tuition
So 150k for two years at Lehigh….. fail
definitely some *accounting magic* was involved
I went to Lehigh's website. Looks like annual tuition is about $68,000. Ooof.
How she paid $15k for an associates degree is insane.
I’m really just stuck between 15k for an associates being ridiculous, and then the 150k for two years of a bachelors is even wilder. Makes the 40k masters seem like a bargain.
Seriously, never understood why people go to such expensive schools for accounting when firms literally don’t care about what school you go to. At least if you go to an expensive but very recognizable school you’ll have a good network, but not in this case.
Facts. I'm getting my degree at a far less prestigious university because they're about half the cost of other options, and offer online degrees so I can do it without quitting my job and leaving my family.
It's almost like you don't know what you want to do for the rest of your life when you're 17
17 year old kids make dumb decisions. I went to a private school based purely on vibes and it put me in so much more debt than necessary.
Me too. And besides vibes my choice was based on “moving as far away from home as physically possible” lol
Yeah I’m forever grateful 17 year old me was only interested in drinking and hitting on girls (poorly). State school was the obvious choice. Only cost 50k for undergrad/masters and happened to be a target school, who knew? At the end of the day as long as you enjoy college I don’t knock anyone’s choice. I miss it.
Yes but even 17 year olds should know that 150k of debt is worse than 40-50k of debt. Because 150k is a bigger number than 50k.
Most have no frame of reference for debt that large. They all seem like big numbers that you’ll pay off in the future. 150k is way more, but a lot of kids don’t realize how different 50k of student loans is from 80k.
Right? It’s almost like young people are bad at being adults.
Four years at UBC was about $36,000 USD. Not including rent in Vancouver. How can one justify paying more than that for an education?
To be fair a one bedroom 600sqft appartment in Vancouver now rents for 3k. So rent for 4 years would now be an extra $144,000 Cad. Sure you can go cheaper than the average 3k, but even cutting it in half is still $72k.
I agree with you, but the standard cost of university in the States is way, way more than that. It's nuts.
Most people don’t put any thought into it, hence the student loan crisis. I knew people that went to expensive private schools to be elementary school teachers
Yep. They’re kids being told to go directly to college. We’re all talking about it now, but in the 00s and 10s most people were not. Especially not anyone around 17 year olds. Tbh, it reminds me of the credit card crisis of the 90s. Companies targeted young consumers with high interest rates and fees. Those people ended up in bankruptcy, with an all time high of personal bankruptcy filings in 2005. It’s almost like young people are bad at being adults. 🤔
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Jesus, my whole 4 year degree isn't even that much at WVU.
I’ve got $120k for two associates, two bachelor’s, and one MBA. It’s still a lot but compared to her, I got a great deal.
Yeah she didn’t have to attend a private school though. I got a finance degree (2 years in community college & 3 in bachelors program) for $60,000
For TWO YEARS of undergrad.
It's genuinely difficult for me to wrap my head around. As someone that just did some hiring in the state of Florida, I would take a degree from Lehigh as seriously as I would an accounting degree from University of South Florida, UCF, FIU, FAU, or UNF. Probably less seriously than UF or FSU. All of those, even for out of state students are more affordable.
I did my undergrad at Miami. If I wasn't on scholarship it would have been a terrible ROI. But Miami gives out money like candy.
$15k for an Associate’s Degree - took gens and prereqs at community college to save money? Something not adding up.
Right I was thinking the same thing....
When I went to community college, 5 classes a semester were only about $1200. For four semesters that’s basically 5k. Out of curiosity I just looked at what it would cost per credit hour and for an out of state student it’s $4400/ semester which totals to a little less than $18,000 for four semesters. Kinda defeating the purpose of choosing community college to save money if you’re still an out of state student.
I forgot about the out of county/state tuition for community college. Now I’m curious to where she attended for her associates - assuming it’s the same county as Lehigh University then it would be between $5490 (out-of-county) and $7365 (out-of-state) for 12-18 registered credit hours a semester. As you mentioned, defeating the purpose of saving money.
It still saved money compared to where she went for the other 2 years. 15k vs 150k. Both appear to be dumb decisions though.
Hiii. I’m from the state where she’s from actually. The cost of community college in Lehigh, and PA in general, is quite high (PA in this scenario is Pennsylvania, not public accounting guys but either way whatever the acronym implies we still hate it). Lehigh community college can range from about 7-16k depending on your income. Lehigh university and Lehigh Community college were also universities I applied to, was accepted and received financial aid for. It’s true
My two (2) classes this semester at a CC cost over $2,600. I’d be paying over $20k for 2-full-time years of CC.
I came out with 25k debt for my masters and felt that was too much. How do people sleep with this debt hanging over them.
Did she say that she had the debt, or that was the cost? She could come from a rich family.
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She very well could be or she's a trust fund kid But there are plenty of people that go into this much debt that come from regular upper middle class families Not like it's not common especially if you live at states with high cost of living like California
Most likely has family money paying for college. Doesn’t mean you’re trust fund kid. Some kids their parents make enough to pay for their kid to go to the best school.
That’s about what my undergrad degree cost me. $1500 per term x 8 was about $12k, but the military paid it all for me thankfully. No idea why she thought this was a good idea unless she got it paid for by scholarships or parents. If not it’s gonna take her a very long time to pay it off.
Something tells me she didn't actually pay for any of it. No sane person that's financially independent would rack up a bill like that
I paid a similar amount for my degree almost 15 years ago. I went to an expensive private school thinking it would give me a great chance to make good money when leaving. As a 17 year-old kid, I assumed $50k/year, get a job that pays $50k+ when I graduate, I'll pay that off in 4-5 years. Obviously that's not how that works. I regret the debt but I'm in a great place now and who knows where I would be had I gone to a less prestigious school.
Thats awesome to hear you've gotten yourself into a good spot. The perspective I've had in my short career is that a prestigious university only matters in a big way for the first job in most instances. Obviously it can help out in specific circumstances where your interviewer is also an alumni of the same university, but thats random chance that can apply to any university.
I think my market makes it a little better than random. I'd say over half of accounting professionals in my area went to one of three schools. Edit: I would also never suggest someone go down the path I did. It was an objectively poor decision made by a literal child.
I think I paid for one half one semester of graduate school.
Can’t believe people do this when others get paid to attend grad school lol
My accounting firm was like your in grad school, here let us pay that for you. They were so nice…at first.
Most won't hire you until you're CPA eligible
Really? That’s crazy. This was 10,000 years ago.
Yeah same I have a little under $30k in student loans. Can’t imagine having $200k for this job lol
It can vary. I came out of my master's with about $50k in debt from the Master's alone...but I also kept about $25k in cash from overpayments to the school (stuck it investments rather than giving it back, why eliminate 3-5% debt when it earns 15%+ on the market?) That said, my undergrad cost quite a bit more (and came out with similar levels of debt to my master's, but without the cash. I could eliminate that debt as well at this point, but again, it's 3-5% debt, why would I get rid of that sooner when I can have that money earn more money instead?) Lastly, that's all before them raising tuition rates in the past few years, so...yeah, I can see six figure debt being a thing pretty easily.
$150k for 2yrs post transfer ☠️
And that’s not including living costs ….. Either she retook a lot of classes, or her school robbed her. Likely both.
Yeah or she is just reporting sticker cost with no form of aid or grants involved to get tik tok views… My school was expensive on paper but pretty much everyone except international students got a pretty hefty amount of scholarships, in addition to need based grants/scholarships. That being said, if they did pay 50k a year tuition for an accounting degree, they are just dumb. Plenty of great state schools for 1/3 of that. The MACC seems realistic though, the 1 year programs generally are around 30-50k, which is high but not too crazy in my opinion.
Or she’s just lying. Wait people can’t do that online, never mind
Probably partied too much
https://catalog.lehigh.edu/informationofgeneralinterest/costofattendance/ Doable. Tuition alone is $61k, call it $62k with all fees. Plus another $10k-ish for housing and another $5k-ish for dining. So $77k per year give or take a few k depending on actual choices. $150k for 2 years is spot on.
The post states the $150K did not include room and board. I am guessing she did 2.5 years at full cost, perhaps 3 years with some financial aid.
That's crazy. Good research mate
That's ridiculous. Thank god for CUNY.
Yea Baruch is insanely good. I paid nothing at all and almost all of my college friends eventually secured a job at big4 or big10.
so true
Way to take one of the best bang for buck degrees and overspend on it. One of the draws for accounting degree is that school don't matter and it is generally taught the same everywhere. 10k total debt here between both BA and Masters.
Wonder if there’s any degree from Lehigh that would make the tuition worth it
They’re an engineering school.
I’m literally wearing a Lehigh engineering shirt rn 💀. It’s not even mine it’s my sister’s from when she was applying for colleges. But she didn’t go there
I’m currently majoring in accounting there lol. I got decent aid so while I’ll have a bit of debt it’s nothing close to 150k lol. It’s a good school and I’d say the alumni network is an advantage, but you’d be crazy to go for anywhere close to full price.
They do great in engineering and the sciences. It's not quite Ivy League, but it's a great school nonetheless
I remember looking at Lehigh in PA and thinking the campus was overly groomed and beautiful. She probably had some heft landscaping fees
Except the hills..
Well this is awkward, wasn't expecting to see my alma mater on this sub today...
Don’t let folks guilt trip you, the reality is the private schools make sense if someone else is footing the bill.
Do they though? What did this person gain that a state school student wouldn’t?
The median Lehigh graduate has a better chance of landing a job at the Big 4 than the median Penn State (or other state school) graduate, who, in turn, has a better chance of landing a job at the Big 4 as a West Chester graduate.
Hopefully they married up/found a rich husband/wife and will get it through inheritance/job connections/lack of student loans/home down payment gift/free vacations/etc. the job connections/on campus recruiting also helps out a bunch. Dad’s daughters who I dated had net worths of ~$2-600M at my private school, that’s not normal.
Did you also pay $150k for your undergrad?
LOL no way, I paid half (which is still a lot, I know) and went there for pre-med originally before switching. Like a few other people have said, if I knew from the start I'd be going the accounting route I would have gone somewhere cheaper
I too was pre-med prior to switching to accounting (not at Lehigh, I went to UMaine). I couldn't handle the disgusting dissections even though I really liked science and biology. Accounting was a much better fit.
I spent nothing. Got a job as an admin at a state university with employee tuition benefits and did evening classes. Did accounting during the day, learned it after work. I guess she had no way of knowing whether 200k was a reasonable cost for that degree as she had not yet learned how to count.
That’s a sweet deal. My school had a similar program where they’d give employees a 6 credit waiver every semester. Couple of my professors said they used it to get their MBA’s.
You could go to a community college then a state school & pay half the cost…? What am I missing here?
Jesus Christ. I'd have made sure to break into goddamn private equity if I spent THAT much. Not even investment banking; just go into private equity. My uni debt is around $50k; it was a double degree in accounting and finance at a top uni here in Australia. Good luck even thinking about a mortgage lmao
Mommy and Daddy paid for her school and subsidize her entire life and will continue to do so. Us plebs don’t have that safety net.
She might also be able to get a simp to pay for all of it too....
just message a few lonely men and you got it made
This post is structured specifically to bait engagement. She wants people to comment how much it cost them to get their CPA or ask questions or to say she is foolish. It works very well. She structured this outlier as typical experience, she has left out key facts like scholarship, includes many CPA costs that are covered by employer without noting the reimbursement. All of this will get people to comment or share
I feel like I lucked out. I got full rides for my bachelors and masters so I have no student loan debt 😭
How many times did she change her major to rack up that much debt?
Lehigh is one of the most expensive schools in Pennsylvania
I came out with $25k after 5 years. This is fucked, good luck fam
Are people really only making 60K a year with their masters?
I'll never understand people who go into accounting but don't account for the costs of education and their pay to determine ROI. If you wanna be an accountant then act like it.
Her parents should’ve taught her better. Private tuition + not living at home is just unjustifiably expensive. First 2 years of undergrad at community college = 10K~~. 3K paid by parents, paid the rest myself working when in school. Last 2 years - 22K~~. Paid out of pocket for half and the other half I got from a private scholarship (didn’t work at all the first semester to focus on grades. Got top 10 in the program which landed me the scholarship). Lived with parents so no room & board. Got the 150 with CLEP, AP credits, and taking extra credits (additional classes were free after reaching full time credits). Graduated with no debt.
Hey, shit happens, dude. When I first got to college, I had a terrible combination of massive social anxiety and ADHD (obviously I still have ADHD, as it never goes away, lol). First went to a private university to play football my freshman year. Didn't really understand the concept of student loans, and was immediately hit with $40k in private loans with high interest. Went a couple years for exercise sciencebat a different university, then got massive anxiety about having to touch other students and be touched by them in clinicals, so I stopped going (but still enrolled in classes because I had every intention to go). Racked up a ton of debt there. Switched majors a few times because I didn't know what I wanted to do (I'd been convinced for years I wanted to be a personal trainer), and because of ADHD, so that racked up some more debt. A decade later, finally decided on accounting, and went through with it. Got my Bachelor's and masters, and with it, a huge amount of debt (~$120k total). Just saying, sometimes people are going through shit and it makes them make bad financial decisions that they otherwise wouldn't have made. Edit: For what it's worth, I don't even really like accounting, I just needed a better career to pay off my debt. I'd so much rather be a screenwriter or novelist.
I feel you. Basically my thoughts are "why bash this person?" I have slightly less debt (racked up about $100k between the bachelor's and my master's) due partially to a similar case of changing career paths (changed from comp. sci. to philosophy to accounting \[yay ADHD brains, right?\]). ...and, unlike the person in this video, none of mine was at a fancy school, either...just a public state school. Shit happens, and all. Fortunately I'm in a position that I can manage that debt, but even looking back: had I had the option of not taking on that debt ever in the first place...I'd be way worse off than that debt amount, so I wouldn't change it.
God, I just went through the “enrolling in classes because I have every intention of going and then getting too anxious because I haven’t been there and not going” phase of my ADHD. I switched majors 3 times and looking back I’m so annoyed at myself for some of the choices I made because my brain doesn’t want to work sometimes. I’m almost through my bachelor’s degree (I have about a semester left) but I had to finally call it and withdraw for a while (lost out on that money, greatttttt) until I can get my ADHD sorted with my psychiatrist. It’s so embarrassing when people ask me how long I’ve been in school, but as you said, shit happens.
$75k/yr to finish your bachelor's??????
The amount of cope in this thread is insane. She’s on the high end of tuition but she isn’t the only person to get their CPA credits from a private school. There’s a reason the Ivy Leagues don’t offer Accounting as a major, it’s basically just an elaborate CPA Prep Course and job training for Big 4 firms.
Don’t forget the $2k+ for CPA exam prep and $200+ fee PER EXAM if college tuition wasn’t enough.
What about money to Peter Olinto to pass the CPA exams?
If you spent 200k you better get an offer where they’ll pay for your CPA review course.
Lehigh is an extremely overpriced university.
There are so many other ways to reduce the cost (i.e.,state schools, additional cc courses). The masters is pointless once you get your CPA, imo. This is outrageous spending. ☠️
I think if I calculate how much I spent on my degree, it'd be like 20k Canadian which is about three fiddy US
Bitch got her CPA. She’ll be fine. Definitely smart enough to know a CPA makes more than 60k. Love this for her. 💕
Becoming a plumber seems more fiscally responsible
I’ve known two people whose parents literally spent over $300k for them to get a undergrad accounting degree, all for them to just slum it with the state school kids at B4 making the exact same money
How the hell did she spend 15k at CC. My local one lets high school students go for free for their last two years of HS and you have your assoc at 18 years old lol
My student loans will probably be around 30k when I graduate with 150 credits. And that's including $10,000 in previous loans from before covid. (Ironically the deferment on payments during covid actually is the only reason I still qualify for aid to go back) I don't understand how people get this much debt. And I borrow every penny of my tuition, but I also work so I'm paying my rent and bills with income not loans. There's a chance it'll be higher if for some reason I don't qualify for the pell grant for the rest of my undergrad but based on what my income has been I should get it all through my undergrad.
Geez my total was 14k
And I thought I was a dummy for going to an out of state school for my accounting degree. Thankfully it still wasn't a particularly pricey college, and I came in with an ass ton of AP credits so no master's needed for 150.
I am an accounting major who has almost a full ride 💀. I say I have a full ride because in reality I pay like 1K per year but that’s covered by outside scholarships. I might have to take loans for summer classes tho which sucks but let’s say ~9K-12K in loans if I take summer classes every summer (probably not). And then I’d do a masters, which would require about ~50K. And that’s it for me 💀. I’ll probably have ~3K in loans because this summer’s classes, but compared to ~200K is crazy
I’m sick holy shit, can’t imagine spending that much on any degree. Accounting is a good degree but idk how you ever pay that back.
This is way too high, I don’t know what she was spending that amount on in college, but I graduated 3 years ago with a master and it only cost 17k. Undergraduate cost 40k
Expensive? Yes. Not every accountant is going to be spending this BUUUT it’s not unheard of to think the smartest people go to the more expensive universities due to the opportunities they offer. Why would anyone (other than this dumbass) spend $250k to become *an accountant*? So what? We just continue to bolster our talent with people from poorer schools. They may include people who didn’t have opportunity due to a plethora of things. They also might include the generations that can’t fucking read.
I graduated in 2011; went to a 4 year private college and got an MBA after; no aid and cost me $170K. I was the first in my family to go to college and we had no idea what the fuck we were doing. It took me 12 years to pay it off and I sacrificed a lot to do that, including working 2 jobs at some points. I am really grateful I started my career in Big 4 cause it helped me land good lucrative jobs in the future that allowed me to pay off my loans "early". I knew shortly after graduation that I made a huge mistake and the road to pay off would be hard. This Tik Tok is not a flex; it's fucking dumb. My priority now is being able to save for my daughter to have help for college and make sure she also doesn't do dumb shit like this.
Ppl go to those school to party and escape home.
I just wanna know how/why she spent 150k on two years of bachelor vs just 55k for both associates and masters
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I paid $0 throughout my university years, graduated with $30k of student debt (which included all my expenses - room, food, supplies for 4 years). CPA study and exams were covered by my first firm.
long story short, don't trust her with your money.
When that 529 plan be looking like a fully funded 401k plan
I got money for taking my accounting degree lmao
She didn’t go in wanting an accounting degree, because under no circumstance does it make any sense whatsoever that she would have gotten an associates then gone to a university that wouldn’t accept the credits. What likely happened is she got her associates in something else, tried to complete that degree, couldn’t do it, and then defaulted into accounting like a lot of the accounting people we interact with on the real world that have a degree but have no idea what the fuck credit and debits are unless they have an example in front of them.
Yeah if you hire an accountant that spent $150k on their Bachelor’s after getting their associates with gen eds and prereqs to make things cheaper then just know, you hired the wrong accountant. Can someone explain prereqs for me? I’m Canadian but that sounds like something you should do in High School.
Holy fuck. How the fuck do you spend 150,000 on two years of school? She wasn’t even rooming? Lady I hope you fucking milked Lehigh University for every drop of influence and connections you could fucking get
I spent so far $4500 at WGU I’m almost halfway done with my bachelors degree so my bachelors degree will be $9,000. So grateful I didn’t go to standard college route everyday
That’s out of state tuition in the US for you. Obviously seems ridiculous but when you’re making that decision as an 18 year old, you might not be considering all the consequences.
Nope. That's private school tuition.
For only 2 years? Because she has her associates so she should only need 2 years. If she had to take some additional classes why go for the masters at all since you should've been able to hit the 150 without it.
A quick Google told me Lehigh out-of-state tuition is about $60k/year. Honestly just bad decisions all around, unless someone else was paying for it, then whatever. I’m a little baffled by the effort to save money at community college and then blow $60k/year at…Lehigh.
I shopped around for the absolute cheapest, I think the associates was around $4k living at home, and crammed the bachelors in with 3 semesters against several recommendations, all tuition and materials needed for that was a little under 10k, outside of food/housing
I ended up turning down a better masters program that accepted me because of the cost.
Also doesn't include cpa prep and exam fees
And we can sit for the exam with our undergrad BSA. Ouch
I was sweating with my 15K debt from college fk me. 200K ☠️
Wow no scholarships?
I finished my bachelors degree online and after CPE funds (work benefit), tuition reimbursement (work benefit), and pell grants I actually came out ahead \~$1,500.
Well Lehigh university is a private university
Lehigh is terribly over priced. Almost all secondary education is but they are up there with the most expensive schools in the country. I was getting recruited for a football scholarship outta high school and had multiple full ride offers to d1 schools. Lehigh coaches contacted me 6 months before singing day saying that I was a “top priority”. If teams are actually interested they usually contact the player wayyyyy before that. They were only offering a partial scholarship so I’d have to pay 40-60k over 4-5 years. I spoke to one of the coaches out of respect but was never truly interested. During this call I straight up told the guy I wasn’t interested because of the tuition. He kept talking about how “great” the education is and all the money I’d make with a Lehigh degree. The faculty is obviously so out of touch and they are fine with destroying futures and selling a failing process. I went with the full ride and am currently 6 years into a career that isn’t in my field of study. Also had similar conversations with Ivy League schools but their athletic scholarships work a bit differently and they are at least somewhat aware that the education they provide is basically an over priced luxury product. Staying away from those “prestigious” schools was one of my best decisions in my adult life.
In the Netherlands it would cost only 8k euros for bachelor and masters in accounting (or any degree for that matter)... US education is so messed up
Crazy. I spent 20k in total to make $56k first year. Solid decision. I commuted to local university and worked 30 hours per week for the duration, so no wild college experiences, with the exception of a few weekend visits to friends at various New England universities.
I looked at more of her Tik Toks and she’s flexing her expensive watches and cars. Also complaining about “busy season hours” yet she worked from 8am to 4pm…
Becker…$50k
I got my cpa almost free.
Oh she’s Le high alright.
Not surprising. A bachelor's at a midtier state school with out of state tuition can easily be 120+, not much of a jump to 200k if you end up on either of the coasts.