2008 Woodie Awards
Students manage thousands through investment challenge
Clayton Vertrees
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: News
Clayton Vertrees
Staff writer
Through the Tennessee Valley Authority's Investment Challenge, Murray State students have had the opportunity to manage $100,000 of real money since 1999.
Larry Guin, professor of economics and finance and faculty adviser to the TVA Investment Challenge from 1999 to 2004, said while the universities are not given actual cash, TVA does give each of the 18 participating schools the right to manage $100,000 through an account.
"Here at Murray State, we do the Investment Challenge as a kind of project in a few of our finance classes," Guin said. "The students do all the financial analysis of the companies, make recommendations on which ones to invest in, and as a group, the students make the final decisions. Faculty members just kind of guide the students a little bit on the proper techniques, but the students make all the decisions."
In some cases, Guin said Murray State students involved in the investment actually outperformed professional money managers responsible for billions of TVA's dollars. In these cases, Guin said TVA returned to the students with extra money to be managed.
"At one time, Murray State students were managing approximately $1 million because TVA gave us the initial $100,000 and came back later and gave us another $300,000," Guin said. "In this case, the students did so well in the competition that the stock prices went up so much that they were managing about $1 million."
In the case when participating universities do exceptionally well, the departments involved become eligible to win $15,000 for first place, $10,000 for second and $5,000 for third. In the case of Murray State, the money accumulated through the Investment Challenge is donated to the Murray State University Foundation, which handles scholarships and other things on campus. Recently, this scholarship account has grown so large faculty in the finance department have received approval for students to also manage that account.
Staff writer
Through the Tennessee Valley Authority's Investment Challenge, Murray State students have had the opportunity to manage $100,000 of real money since 1999.
Larry Guin, professor of economics and finance and faculty adviser to the TVA Investment Challenge from 1999 to 2004, said while the universities are not given actual cash, TVA does give each of the 18 participating schools the right to manage $100,000 through an account.
"Here at Murray State, we do the Investment Challenge as a kind of project in a few of our finance classes," Guin said. "The students do all the financial analysis of the companies, make recommendations on which ones to invest in, and as a group, the students make the final decisions. Faculty members just kind of guide the students a little bit on the proper techniques, but the students make all the decisions."
In some cases, Guin said Murray State students involved in the investment actually outperformed professional money managers responsible for billions of TVA's dollars. In these cases, Guin said TVA returned to the students with extra money to be managed.
"At one time, Murray State students were managing approximately $1 million because TVA gave us the initial $100,000 and came back later and gave us another $300,000," Guin said. "In this case, the students did so well in the competition that the stock prices went up so much that they were managing about $1 million."
In the case when participating universities do exceptionally well, the departments involved become eligible to win $15,000 for first place, $10,000 for second and $5,000 for third. In the case of Murray State, the money accumulated through the Investment Challenge is donated to the Murray State University Foundation, which handles scholarships and other things on campus. Recently, this scholarship account has grown so large faculty in the finance department have received approval for students to also manage that account.
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