I have a college degree with an emphasis in real  estate.  

If you have a college degree some of those credit may count toward your required hours.

Any loan officer worth his or her salt will be able say within a certain degree of certainty whether or not it will work.

It seems to me, he use to advocate tied performance and rent credits - though not to the degree of many (there are a couple of websites out there advertising "passive" Rent-to-Own: you put up the money, they find the property and lessee / buyer - where the agreements appear to be tied.We do not have the equivalent of Dodd-Frank and the Safe Act here ... yet ... but do not be surprised if we follow the lead.  

I am studying towards degrees in Finance and Managerial Economics.

Im still in school finishing my degree while I do that im just goin to keep learning new information about real estate.

I've been looking seriously at getting into investing, primarily fix & flip, and a thought occurred to me just a bit ago.I'm working on my graduate degree with a minor in project management.  

I wouldn’t get too caught up in this question because real life experience is way more important than fancy framed certifications and degrees, but I do think that a really good IFREA will have some form of education above the high school level needed to get your real estate license.

Would a finance degree or a career as an appraiser be my best route?

They taught their children to go to college, get a degree, get tons of debt from that degree, get a good job, then die.