CEL Project Highlights

FINA 470 partnership with St. John Bosco Schools, Spring and Fall 2026.

St. John Bosco Schools · Community-Engaged Learning at Fisher

About the Partnership

In FINA 470, students apply financial analysis to a question defined with the community partner. They work in teams and present recommendations to the partner.

The course

FINA 470 — Strategic Financial Management asks students to integrate financial analysis, forecasting, valuation, strategy, and professional communication.

The community partner

St. John Bosco Schools is the course’s community partner for Spring and Fall 2026. Students analyze questions identified with school leadership.

Fisher defines community-engaged learning as course-based work in which students apply academic knowledge and skills to partner-identified needs while advancing academic, civic, and professional development.

Student Consulting Projects

Only high-level project descriptions appear here. Confidential information and student work are not included.

Spring 2026 — Campus-expansion feasibility and strategy

Students evaluated the financial feasibility and strategic implications of a potential campus expansion and presented their recommendations to school leadership and board members.

Fall 2026 — Continuing partnership

The FINA 470 community-engaged learning partnership continues with St. John Bosco Schools, extending the relationship across the academic year.

Project Process

1. Question and scope. Clarify the partner’s goals, constraints, stakeholders, and measures of success.

2. Financial analysis. Translate assumptions into cash flows, financing needs, sensitivities, and strategic tradeoffs.

3. Review. Check reasonableness, downside exposure, implementation risk, and uncertainty.

4. Presentation. State the recommendation, supporting evidence, alternatives, and next steps.

Skills Developed

• Financial analysis: forecasting, cash-flow modeling, capital budgeting, scenario analysis, and sensitivity testing.

• Strategic judgment: connecting quantitative results to organizational priorities, constraints, risks, and alternatives.

• Client communication: asking productive questions, explaining assumptions, and presenting recommendations.

• Team execution: dividing work, integrating analyses, reviewing models, and meeting shared deadlines.

• Professional responsibility: handling partner information carefully, distinguishing facts from assumptions, and respecting confidentiality.

• Project review: identifying what changed, which evidence mattered, and how the team would revise its process.

Partner and Course Outcomes

St. John Bosco Schools receives student analysis of a current financial question. Students practice building a model, testing assumptions, and explaining a recommendation to school leadership.