Some schools will let you 'challenge' a course, but you usually still have to pay the fees for the semester in order to do so - it's basically where the professor works up a special 'final exam' & if you pass it, you pass the class w/out all the going to class in the meantime. However, from what I've heard, most of those 'challenge' exams are designed so people can't pass them - so you've blown about $300 for nothing.

It just depends on what you want to do - like I said, anybody w/the know-how & general knowledge could be a bookkeeper or accountant for a smaller company & make decent money, working on the basis of otj training. But if you want official professional certifications that say you know what you're doing in the big world, you have to make the personal sacrifices.