NIU students have a chance to dabble in the stock market with monoply money.

Students across the country can enter the AT&T Collegiate Investment Challenge, said Mike Burn, NIU contact person for the contest.

The AT&T Collegiate Investment Challenge is a nationwide competition that attempts to simulate the excitement and potential monetary rewards of actual stock-market trading.

Students are issued an imaginary $500,000 brokerage account and a Standard & Poor’s Stock Guide. Students then pretend to buy and sell shares of stock via a toll-free number to fictional stockbrokers. The object of the Challenge is to compile the most profitable stock portfolio by the end of the four month competition.

The 10 top collegiate finalists will receive a total of $61,500 in cash prizes ranging from $10,000 for first place to $1,000 for 10th place. The top 10 finalists also will be flown to the Bahamas for the awards banquet and a six-day vacation as guests of the Bahamian Ministry of Tourism.

The Challange is the brainchild of 30-year-old Tim DeMello, a former stockbroker from Boston and founder of Wall Street Games, Inc. DeMello said he felt there should be a “realistic way for students to go through the trial-and-error phase of learning the stock market and its important role in business.”

Last year’s top finisher was Julie McRedmond, a senior at the Universty of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Another area winner was Timothy Stafford of the DeVry Institute of Technology, who ranked 9th and was awarded $1,500.

Of last year’s 11,250 collegiate participants, 22 became “millionaires” and 12 went broke.

Burn, a sophomore finance major, said that last year 17 students from NIU entered the Challenge. The top-ranked NIU student has since graduated and Burn ranked second in the NIU group.

“The contest was a lot of fun and I learned a lot,” Burn said. “For a while there I was eating and sleeping stock market quotes. I think it was worth my time though. In terms of practical business experience, I got more out of the contest than I do out of some of my classes,” Burn said.

Burn stressed although the investment competition might be particularly interesting for business majors, it is open to any full-time college student.

The cost of entering the competition is $49.95 and the last day to register is Oct. 27. Anyone interested in further information should contact Burn at 758-1379.