USA Post-bacc Certificate (for CPA) - is school prestige worth the extra cost?

[mjasondavis]

I'm looking at two programs - Northwestern University and Eastern Kentucky University. Both qualify one to sit for the CPA exam in their respective states, both take about two years, and both are AACSB accredited. NU is about $10k more expensive than EKU. Is it worth the extra dough for a more well-known name, or is that totally or somewhat irrelevant and it's just about passing the exam? I'm wondering how I'll be perceived by potential employers in either scenario.

Context: middle-aged classical musician changing careers with useless Bachelors in music performance. I don't plan on living in either of the above states ultimately, and have been told it isn't necessary to take the exam in the state where you want to live (I'm not yet sure where that will be).

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[BIG E]

What's important is that you pass the exam whatever you need to do to get by the exam isn't really considered as important as just getting the exam passed and get the experience requirement met in the state you're going to practice in.