Accounting
AICPA Awards Scholarships to 5 Nontraditional Accounting Students
This year’s recipients, who plan to become CPAs, have backgrounds in areas such as history and mechanical engineering. They will receive one-year, $5,000 scholarships toward their graduate accounting degrees as part of AICPA’s Legacy Scholars Program.
Oct. 17, 2018
The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has awarded the 2018-19 John L. Carey Scholarship to five college students. This year’s recipients, who plan to become CPAs, have backgrounds in areas such as history and mechanical engineering. They will receive one-year, $5,000 scholarships toward their graduate accounting degrees as part of AICPA’s Legacy Scholars Program.
“You don’t necessarily need to major in a business-related field to become a CPA, and this year’s John L. Carey recipients are proof of that,” said AICPA Foundation President and former AICPA Chairman of the Board Ernie Almonte, CPA, CGMA. “Students from many different backgrounds enter the accounting profession, and their non-traditional paths often give them valuable insights, as John L. Carey understood.”
The 2018-2019 Carey scholarship recipients are:
- Abigail Belcher, Wake Forest University
- Glenell Jaquez, SUNY-Binghamton
- Gemila Mama, Central Connecticut State University
- Brooke Wages, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Vincent Wisehoon, SUNY-Albany
The award-winners’ scholarships are funded by a contribution from John L. Carey, who served as AICPA’s administrative vice president and executive director, and retired from the Institute in 1969 after a distinguished 40-year career. In his work as a university professor, Carey was known for encouraging outstanding students from all backgrounds to become CPAs.
In 2018-2019 the AICPA Legacy Scholars Program provided a total of $686,000 to 145 accounting students from all over the country. Legacy Scholars are Student Affiliate Members of the AICPA, which is a free-membership option offered to all college students.
Applications are assessed according to academic achievement, leadership and overall commitment to pursuing a CPA license. Applicants must be full-time graduate-level students for the next academic year with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and have not earned more than 12 credits in accounting or business during their undergraduate program.
More information about the Legacy Scholars Program and other scholarships offered to accounting students is available online at ThisWaytoCPA.com. Applications for the 2019-2020 AICPA scholarships will open on December 1, 2018.