Do you foresee the bachelor degree requirement ever going away

[Joe Flacco]

It's not enough to go college and get a degree. You have to go and compete to be around the top of the class.

 

[Joe Flacco]

Appraisal licensing requirements should mirror accountancy. That means bachelor's degree.

There is only one real argument for no bachelors degree and it is that fees would have to be higher to attract new appraisers.

 

[glenn walker]

Nobody's going to college to get a degree to become an appraiser and the people who have degrees got them before they ever knew about appraisals. In other professions you get pay increases for additional education, but in appraising you get the same fee whether you have a GED or a PHD.

 

[Joe Flacco]

Nobody's going to college to get a degree to become an appraiser and the people who have degrees got them before they ever knew about appraisals. In other professions you get pay increases for additional education, but in appraising you get the same fee whether you have a GED or a PHD.

Nobody goes to college to become appraisers because it doesn't pay well and the career trajectory is not defined. It doesn't pay well because it doesn't require a degree.

It should be exactly the same as accountancy. College degree with related coursework, passing licensing exam, and no experience requirements.

 

[George Hatch]

Appraisal licensing requirements should mirror accountancy. That means bachelor's degree.

There is only one real argument for no bachelors degree and it is that fees would have to be higher to attract new appraisers.

I have many hours of IRL exposure to licensees in QE and CE settings, so my perspective might have a different basis than your's.

I think the other "real argument" is that there's a 50yr track record for SFR appraisals having been completed competently by non-college grads. The proof of concept has already been established. Moreover and based on my exposure to appraisal reviews, I cannot discern from reading a report whether the appraiser is a Have or a Have-Not.

Newspapers are written at the 10th/11th grade reading levels.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

In 2025 people can earn college credits online, without moving to a college town or attending live classes. Heck, if they can read a college text they can CLEP all or almost all of the courses they need for an appraisal license - for cheap. Exams cost $95/course.

Earn College Credit with CLEP – CLEP | College Board

Register to take a CLEP exam and receive college credit at 2,900 colleges.

clep.collegeboard.org

I took as many CLEP and Dante tests as I could. Super easy some of them i just crammed the night before unless it was a weak subject for me like history.

 

[Joe Flacco]

I have many hours of IRL exposure to licensees in QE and CE settings, so my perspective might have a different basis than your's.

I think the other "real argument" is that there's a 50yr track record for SFR appraisals having been completed competently by non-college grads. The proof of concept has already been established. Moreover and based on my exposure to appraisal reviews, I cannot discern from reading a report whether the appraiser is a Have or a Have-Not.

Newspapers are written at the 10th/11th grade reading levels.

I don't agree that there is a 50 year history of being appraisals having been performed competently. That is why the profession is in decline. The barriers were way too low from the beginning.

 

[George Hatch]

I took as many CLEP and Dante tests as I could. Super easy some of them i just crammed the night before unless it was a weak subject for me like history.

Principle of substitution. Why pay $500/unit when you can pay $50/unit including the texts?

I live in California, not on the East Coast where they take such more seriously. I have never once been asked about my GPA, and only a couple times in passing about my school. Nobody cares over here.

 

[George Hatch]

I don't agree that there is a 50 year history of being appraisals having been performed competently. That is why the profession is in decline. The barriers were way too low from the beginning.

If someone can do it then that proves competency (specifically, their capability). If someone doesn't do it that only proves performance. There are lots of people who don't perform to their capabilities. That doesn't mean they can't perform to their capabilities.

The reason every appraiser has an "SRA story" and/or an "MAI story" or (more commonly) a "GG Story" is not because those particular appraisers in those anecdotes are not adequately educated or qualified or trained, but because day-to-day performance is an arguably separate issue from competency (capability).

IMO

 

[cpursley]

That means bachelor's degree.

Any ole' bachelors degree like French lit (my wife)?