Financial Planning Students Place Third in National Industry Issues Competition

Student team wins second national award for using social media in financial planning industry

Financial planning students (from left) Claudia Capilla, Nick Bowman, and Mike Walsh

William Paterson financial planning students Nicholas Bowman, Claudia Capilla, and Michael Walsh placed third in the Financial Services National Industry Issues Competition held in January in Phoenix, Arizona. This is the second national award won by this student team during the 2011-12 academic year.

The trio was invited to participate in the competition, sponsored by the Society of Financial Service Professionals, based on a paper they submitted on this year’s topic, which focused on the usage of social media within the financial services industry. Three finalist teams were selected by a panel of financial professionals to travel to Phoenix to make an oral presentation before a panel of judges drawn from attendees at the society’s Arizona Institute.  The students won $1,250 in scholarship money for the University based on their combined paper and oral presentation.

In September 2011, the students placed second overall in the Financial Planning Association’s National Financial Planning Challenge, where they won $5,000 in scholarship money for the University. Another student team from the program won the first place in this competition in 2010.

Just three years old, William Paterson’s financial planning program continues to generate buzz in the industry based on the performance of University students at national financial planning competitions.  The program was recently rated among the top ten financial planning programs in the United States by Financial Planning Magazine. Other schools in the list include Texas Tech University, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Kansas State University, and Boston University.