Student Investors Earn Big Return for College

PULLMAN, Wash. — Finance students at Washington State University are earning while
they’re learning. With the help of investment firm D.A. Davidson, one group of students has
added $13,000 to the Washington State University Finance Program through yearlong successes
in investment portfolio management classes.
Spokane Davidson investment adviser Merilee Frets presented a check last week that
represents profits earned by students in 1998-99 classes that invested $50,000 in Davidson seed
money, and earned an overall 57 percent return. Davidson, a Montana-based investment
company, splits earnings over $5,000 on these student portfolios 50-50 with the school at the end
of a year of investing.
This is the fifth year that WSU finance students have participated in the Davidson program.
During that time, WSU finance students have “earned” a total of nearly $36,000 from Davidson
for the Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate in the WSU College of Business &
Economics, reports Frets.
Tom Gooch, a Pullman financial planner and district manager with Waddell and Reed, Inc.,
stepped in to cover Finance Professor Rick Sias’s portfolio management classes last year during
his sabbatical. Gooch and Sias were both on hand for the check presentation by Frets.
Of the 10 other universities involved in 1998-99, only Gonzaga University, which earned an
89 percent return, topped the WSU team. This year, 13 schools are in the program.
“It’s a great opportunity that allows our students to see real results based on hands-on
investing of real dollars,” says Sias. “We’re grateful for the tremendous investments D.A.
Davidson and Ms. Frets make in our students and our department. We’re honored to participate
again this year in this unique program.”
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