Two Lehman Afternoons: Budgeting First, Then a Bloomberg Terminal
The Financial Learning Group has booked two afternoons at Lehman this fall. The first sits in a Student Life Building classroom and covers budgets, spending, and the habits underneath both. The second moves up to the Bloomberg Lab on the second floor of the Leonard Lief Library, a room that stays locked unless someone has booked it. One club, two rooms, two very different scales of money.
September 30: where your money actually goes
The Financial Learning Group takes SLB 101 on the last afternoon of September. Lehman's own listing describes it in one sentence: practical ways to create a budget, manage your money, control spending, and build better financial habits.
The session runs one hour, 4:00 to 5:00 PM, so it is built to sit between classes. SLB 101 is in the Student Life Building, a few minutes in from the campus gate.
The college's event record lists no cost and no sign-up step. Lehman's event system has no field for either one, so neither has actually been published.
Maurice Wilson got involved with the Financial Learning Group while studying business administration and marketing at Lehman. His advice to other students, in a School of Business spotlight this August: "Show up. Even if you do not fully understand what is going on, or it is not your major, show up anyway."
October 6: one hour in a lab that is normally locked
Six days later the same club moves into the Bloomberg Lab, Room 226A on the second floor of the Leonard Lief Library. The lab stays locked unless it has been booked, and the library's own calendar shows this hour held for the club.
Lehman's listing says the session introduces the Bloomberg Challenge: the format, the registration process, what is expected of entrants, and what resources come with it. The hour is built around getting you ready to enter, so you walk out knowing what the competition actually asks.
The listing never names which Bloomberg competition it means. Lehman has entered the Bloomberg Global Trading Challenge before, and five Lehman teams each ran a virtual $1 million portfolio in it from October 13 to November 15 last year. The college finished first among the participating CUNY and SUNY teams, and placed in the top five percent of nearly 2,400 teams worldwide. Alexander Núñez-Torres, associate professor of management and business innovation, said taking part "gives our students the opportunity to move beyond theory and step directly into the fast-paced world of financial decision making."
The room has its own rules, and they come from the library. Only current students, staff, and faculty can use the Bloomberg terminals. Open lab time runs in two-hour blocks, first come, first served, with Economics and Business students given priority.
What the two official records say, and what they leave blank
Both sessions sit on Lehman's Engage portal, and the official records are shorter than you would expect.
- Both are run by the Financial Learning Group, the same student club
- Both are listed as approved and still on the public calendar
- September 30 is one hour in SLB 101. October 6 is one hour in Bloomberg Lab, Room 226A
- Neither record lists a cost, and neither asks you to sign up
That last line needs a caveat. Lehman's event system carries no cost field and no RSVP field at all, so a blank there means nothing was published. It is no promise that either session is free.
Coming from off campus is the part worth planning. Visitors have to be put on an access list by the department they are visiting, and the campus gates scan ID.
The two rooms, and the walk between them
- SLB 101 is in the Student Life Building, the September 30 room
- Bloomberg Lab is Room 226A, on the second floor of the Leonard Lief Library
- 📍 The campus address on the October 6 listing is 250 Bedford Park Blvd West, in the Bronx
- The gates scan Lehman ID cards, so carry yours
The two buildings are a short walk apart once you are through the gate. The campus is bigger than it looks from the street, so leave a few extra minutes on the first trip.
