4/24/2006

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

 SRU FINANCIAL PLANNING TEAM TAKES THIRD PLACE IN NATIONAL COMPETITION

     SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University financial planning student team of Jeramy Genaway and Eric Lewis, both of Prospect, and Stephen Sullivan of Slippery Rock, has placed third and earned SRU a $1,000 scholarship in the National Finals of the Ameriprise Financial Planning Invitational held recently in Minneapolis.

      “This is a tremendous accomplishment and underscores the top quality of SRU students,” said Dr. John Misner, professor in SRU’s School of Business and team adviser.

      SRU President Robert Smith congratulated the team noting, “This outstanding showing at a national competition further points to the academic excellence of courses offered at SRU, while specifically bringing accolades to our School of Business. The SRU team is to be commended for its hard work and its outstanding effort.”

      First and second place in the competition, formerly known as the American Express Planning Invitational, went to Kansas State and Texas Tech. Other schools involved were Fort Hays State, Virginia Tech, Minnesota State University – Mankato, the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Wright State University.

      To qualify, students constructed a written, comprehensive personal financial plan for a fictitious couple. The first phase was open to all schools offering an undergraduate financial planning program. The finals included two components: The Case Presentation and the How Do You Know? Challenge. Once in Minneapolis, teams received modifications to the original client profile and each team revised its original plan, then presented recommendations to judges.

     Historically the judge panel is comprised of members of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards and the Financial Planning Association, as well as active financial advisers and leaders from Ameriprise.

## -- PN, PGN, WPN, PR

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