Aug. 1, 2009 is Red-Letter day for Baruch's accounting students. Beyond that date, an undergraduate degree will no longer be accepted for the registration of the New York State CPA exam.
A new policy states that 150 hours of approved course credits and an approved MBA/MS will be required. To obtain the additional 26 course credits, Baruch's undergraduates will need access to an MBA/MS program. According to the Accountancy Department's own internal estimates, between two-thirds and three quarters of the existing undergraduate cohort won't meet the GMAT and GPA entrance requirements for Baruch's own graduate programs. That leaves more than 300 students out in the cold.
Why would Baruch impose entrance barriers that deprive their own undergraduates from CPA-exam access? Because high GMAT/GPA entrance requirements "sell" Baruch's MBA/MS programs. They are used to signify "quality" for boosting Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report rankings. These rankings attract out-of-state and overseas students and their corporate sponsors.
A Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report imprimatur attracts student-fees (a large slice of which lands in the Baruch faculty bank). Faculty cannot afford to give undergraduates access to graduate programs because it would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
In anticipation of 2009, Baruch is already switching resources out of the CPA-centric undergraduate program to the MBA/MS program. The strain on the undergraduate program is beginning to show. The latest 2005 CPA pass-rates, published by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, paints an ominous picture.
The table at right was compiled from the NASBA data. It compares the performance of Baruch students with those from 11 other New York area schools. Of those schools whose students passed all four parts of the exam, Baruch students came in fifth - lagging behind NYU, Brooklyn College, Fordham and Hofstra. Of those schools whose students just passed "some" parts, Baruch came in eighth. Baruch came in sixth among schools whose students failed all four parts.
Part of the problem is that, over the years, so-called "research" faculty have displaced CPA-credentialed adjunct-faculty at Baruch. Research faculty do not actually publish much; they are only hired (from the bottom-drawer of so-called top schools) so Baruch can brag about its "world-class faculty." This also helps sell those graduate programs that put money in the faculty bank.
The quality of undergraduate teaching (and thus Baruch's CPA pass-rate) is the price paid for these "world-class recruits." Rarely do these would-be researchers possess a CPA, and often they have taken fewer accounting classes than the students that they teach. The department chair of the Accounting Department at Baruch isn't a CPA, and she does not have a PhD in accounting.
The few faculty who are professionally credentialed often don't bother to list their qualifications on the Baruch Web site. In contrast, schools that beat Baruch in the NASBA ratings typically require new faculty to hold a CPA, or obtain one before promotion. Unfortunately, in staffing at Baruch, form trumps substance.
When Baruch undergraduates learn that from 2009 on, a brick wall stands between them and a CPA, they will begin to drift elsewhere. As the word gets out, undergraduate enrollment will decline. This won't matter to regular faculty who are feeding from the graduate program largesse. Adjuncts, followed by untenured faculty, are likely to be the first casualties.
Adjunct faculty contraction is already underway at considerable cost to undergraduate CPA-aspirants. Adjuncts usually have up-to-date knowledge and experience about the CPA exam and careers in the profession. Terry Balkaran, a highly experienced teacher and a very successful CPA practitioner, was "not-rehired" because he had the temerity to object to a textbook adoption that was not CPA-exam compliant. Bert Merchant and Godfrey Block were also exemplary teachers who fell victim to the purging of CPA-credentialed adjuncts.
The vital Introductory Accounting Course (ACC 2101) has also not escaped the axe. ACC 2101 is the foundational course for undergraduates. Compromising this foundation undermines all of a student's subsequent studies. The switch to employing doctoral students was instigated to preserve the college's funding. The educational needs of ACC 2101 students were not paramount in this decision. The doctoral program is another "selling" accessory that permits Baruch to brag it is a research - not a teaching - school.
The firing of Balkaran is emblematic of the undergraduate program downgrading. Balkaran failed to understand that, at Baruch, educational considerations are not always paramount in selecting textbooks. While Baruch has a center for financial integrity, where conflicts of interest are presumably deplored, the same faculty are allowed to require their own students to buy books they have authored, and thereby collect a royalty-check from a captive customer - for what might be a second-rate product.
The school and/or departments often receive side-payments from publishers for adopting certain textbooks. Many universities prohibit such practices, require faculty to pay royalties to a student society and/or put textbook adoption before an independent committee. At Baruch, there is no policy at all.
What can Baruch undergraduates do after 2009? Success on the GMAT requires a $3,800-plus test-prep course - a bit steep for many Baruch students. Of course, the faculty could upgrade the undergraduate program with qualified teachers and divert some of the lucre from the graduate program treasure trove to pay for GMAT and CPA test-prep courses. Instead, Baruch is offering the 300-plus endangered students several booby prizes. There are now special tracks in internal auditing, finance and management accounting - none of which hold a candle to a CPA career - and a smattering of fellowships to offset the test prep costs.
There is still time to change things at Baruch, but it will require a concerted effort on the part of concerned faculty and students to overcome formidable financial interests. Right now, the faculty is hoping that no one will notice that we are heading for a 2009 shipwreck.
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