The inaugural batch of young accountants to participate in a pilot program helping accounting graduates earn the 150-credit requirement for CPA licensure is wrapping up their first semester.

Thirty-eight students are currently enrolled in the American Institute of CPAs’ and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy’s Experience, Earn & Learn program, which was launched in January and aims to provide an affordable way for accountants to complete the additional 30 academic credits while earning a wage and gaining experience in a firm. 

Accounting graduates are recruited through their firms, which must enroll in the program. The graduates take asynchronous online courses through Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement, costing $150 per credit hour. For a student who needs all 30 credits, the total tuition cost will be under $5,000.

The 150 credit-hours requirement for CPA licensure, first introduced in 1988, is a hurdle to many accountants seeking their CPA license and is considered one of the contributors to the profession’s ongoing labor shortage. The extra year of schooling beyond a bachelor’s degree is time-consuming and costly.

“No single initiative will solve the profession’s talent shortage,” Sue Coffey, CEO of public accounting at the AICPA, said in a release. “But the ELE program demonstrates the kind of creativity, collaboration and follow-through we need to remove barriers to a successful and rewarding career in accounting. This is a true partnership of accounting firm innovators, academic leaders and motivated advocates for the profession.”

Students in this first cohort agree the program has been straightforward and accessible, finding few hiccups in the enrollment process with Tulane. 

For Clinton Strobel, a senior accountant focusing on health care audits at Top 25 Firm Wipfli, the program has proven to be an affordable and flexible way for him to complete the credit requirement.

Strobel, who lives in Minnesota, joined Wipfli in 2017 as a consultant. After finishing his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Rasmussen University in 2018, he switched to audit for the firm’s health care practice. From January to July 2023, he took a leave of absence in order to study for and pass the CPA exam. Shortly after returning from his leave, discussions of the ELE Program at Wipfli began and Strobel readily volunteered. 

Strobel is taking one course this semester and anticipates completing his remaining 30 credits within 12 to 18 months. He says the coursework is manageable, but acknowledged the challenge of balancing long work hours and taking care of his two young children with his wife, who also works outside the home. Classes are online and asynchronous, a significant benefit for him.

“It’s that cliche of ‘If I can do it, anybody can do it,'” he said. 

Strobel suggested an opportunity for the AICPA and NASBA to further help CPA-seeking accountants by providing comprehensive guidance on state-specific CPA credit requirements and counseling on picking the best courses to fulfill those requirements. 

Thomas MacGregor, a staff accountant focusing on audit at Wipfli, graduated with 146 credits from St. Joseph’s College in Maine, where he double-majored in finance and accounting. He has passed the CPA exam and is currently taking two courses this spring semester; upon completion he plans to apply for his license.

“The biggest thing is just being able to have an asynchronous format and not having to meet during the day for a class,” MacGregor said. He find professors are flexible and reasonable with deadlines and late assignment submissions, considering the students in the program simultaneously work full-time.

Stephen Sawyer, an associate focusing on assurance and tax at McLeod Ascanio, a small Maine-based firm, is taking two courses through the ELE program this spring semester. He anticipates completing his remaining 17 credits by the end of this year. 

After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, Sawyer attended the University of Southern Maine, where he earned a double major in business management and accounting. He says the program came at the perfect time — its launch coincided with his graduation and before he enrolled in a more costly master’s program. 

The program requires firms to give participants adequate time to complete the coursework. Sawyer says his firm has allowed him such flexibility: “They’re all CPAs. They’ve all done what I’m doing. I’m working 70 hours a week because I like to work, but if I needed to go home right now and take a test, nobody would bat an eye. They all get it.”

Enrollment for the summer and fall sessions is currently open to firms.