College Fed Challenge
Every six weeks, twelve people in Washington decide what money costs.
The Federal Open Market Committee sets the federal funds rate, which is the anchor for nearly every other interest rate in the economy. It affects what you pay on a student loan or car loan, the rate on your first mortgage, what your savings account earns, and how many companies are hiring the year you graduate.
The College Fed Challenge puts you in that room. You and your team act as the FOMC: you study the same data the Fed watches, argue through the same tradeoffs, and make the call.
What you'll do
Read the economy. With up to four teammates, you'll dig into current conditions: inflation, employment, wage growth, consumer spending, housing, financial markets, and what's happening abroad. You'll learn to tell which numbers matter this month and which ones are noise.
Forecast. You'll project where the economy is headed over the next year or two. Is inflation cooling or stuck? Is the labor market holding up or starting to crack? Where are the biggest risks? A good forecast doesn't need to be right. It needs to be well reasoned and honest about what it doesn't know.
Decide and defend. Your team recommends a policy move: raise rates, cut them, or hold. You present your case the way a Fed staff briefing would, and then Federal Reserve economists question you. They'll push on your assumptions, bring up data you skipped, and ask what would change your mind. This is where teams win or lose.
Why it's worth it for your career
Few student competitions carry as much weight with employers as the Fed Challenge. Recruiters in finance, consulting, and policy know it. They know what it takes to build a forecast and then defend it in front of Federal Reserve economists.
It shows the skills employers screen for. Investment banks, asset managers, consulting firms, and policy shops want people who can take messy data, reach a conclusion, and defend it when someone pushes back. That is the whole competition. You'll have done the job before you interview for it.
It gives you a strong interview story. When an interviewer asks about a time you worked under pressure, disagreed with your team, or changed your mind based on evidence, you'll have a specific, memorable answer. You'll also be able to talk about rates, inflation, and the economy in a way most candidates can't.
It opens doors in economics and policy. If you're thinking about the Federal Reserve, Treasury, think tanks, or economics research, this is direct exposure to that world. You'll meet the kinds of economists who hire research assistants and analysts.
It looks good for grad school too. For PhD, MPP, or MBA applications, it shows you've gone beyond coursework and done real applied analysis.
Along the way, you'll also get a working grasp of monetary policy, learned by using it instead of memorizing it for an exam.
The prize
The top seven teams go to Washington, D.C. for the finals, where they present at the Federal Reserve.
Who should join
You don't need advanced macroeconomics. If you've taken intro econ, or even if you just follow the news and want to understand why rates move, you have enough to start. We'll help you with the rest.
We want students from any major. Econ majors bring the theory. Stats and data science majors can build the forecast. Engineers bring modeling instincts. Humanities and policy majors often do best in Q&A, because the job there is making a clear argument under pressure. The strongest teams mix these skills.
What you need is curiosity and the nerve to hold your position while someone tests it.
Time commitment
Expect about 3–4 hours a week at the start, rising to 6–10 hours a week in the final stretch before the competition. That's roughly 25–40 hours total over [X] weeks. Most of it is weekly team meetings and practice sessions, and it's built to fit around a normal course load. Teams that advance will do more practice and travel to D.C. for the finals.
Questions?
Email VP Zac Ramsey directly through your Rice email, or email riceeconomicforum@gmail.com
Registration closes September 30.