Daily Lobo Staff Report
Business students are using millions of dollars to play the fluctuating stock market as part of a class assignment.
Amy Wohlert, interim dean of the Anderson School of Management, said the class, Management 478, uses the $7 million Student Investment Fund as a learning tool.
Wohlert said that although the economy is in a crisis, the "student-run stock portfolio" is staying above the national average.
"They are benchmarked to the S&P 500 and have continued to outperform the benchmark," Wohlert said. "They haven't lost as much as that benchmarked group of investors."
The S&P 500 has dropped about 500 points since this time last year.
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Wohlert said the class is run by students who have been taught about the investment process and that the funds come in part from the administration.
"The students get $2 million from the Regents' Endowment Fund," Wohlert said. "The $2 million is managed by the students, and they also get funds from the New Mexico State Investment Council. The NMSIC also provides $5 million to invest."
Wohlert said that although the students choose where the money is invested, they don't receive any profits from their investments.
"Of course, the students do not actually get to see any of that money," Wohlert said. "Instead, the class makes suggestions that are followed, and they see how things go."
Profits from the program are put back into the endowment fund to be used by future classes, Wohlert said.
She said the class is learning more this year than in the past four years because of the state of the economy.
"I would definitely say that a person learns more about the market in bad times rather than good times," Wohlert said. "It really makes you take your job more seriously."
