Dallas College students can access finance and investment opportunities without being a finance major. The Bloomberg Finance and Investment Lab, managed by Todd Senick, offers Bloomberg market concepts certification to all students.
“It’s for any student that has a Dallas College student email address or a Dallas College student ID,” Senick said. “Dallas College is putting up a plan for financial literacy.”
The program through the Bloomberg Portal for Education offers three main courses. Finance Fundamentals course serves as a base for understanding the economy and investments. Bloomberg Market Concepts, the focus of the program, helps students navigate and process the Bloomberg terminal.
The Environmental, Social and Governance or ESG course helps to understand the non-finance factors that affect the economy. The courses are split into modules that students can complete at their own pace. “In all it probably takes about 10 hours of video time for the Bloomberg Market Concepts,” Senick said.
Meetings led by Senick are held at 3 p.m. every Thursday for students to “Go into deeper detail on the Bloomberg, deeper detail on the stocks, talk about economics, things of that nature.”
Bloomberg labs are available at multiple Dallas College campuses and can be accessed by students after they have signed into the program. Student workers are available to answer questions about the program and help others sign up.
Bloomberg student worker Mohammad Alsayyedan works mornings helping those who walk in to the Richland lab. Alsayyedan is not a finance major but said he is “grateful for the opportunity” to learn from Senick.
“I started investing like 10 years ago but not as professional as I do now since I joined the club and learned a lot of things from Todd,” he said. Alsayyedan currently participates in the college wide investment competitions.
An investment competition is held every semester. Using simulated accounts, students compete to turn over the most profit.
Senick warns not to “gamify” the competition and instead treat it as managing true currency. “It’s a good way for students to understand portfolio construction. It’s a good way for students to understand risk management in a portfolio,” Senick said.
The lab on Richland Campus is in El Paso Hall Room E018 and is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
