Real Projects, Real Skills
Financial management isn't something you learn from textbooks alone. Our student projects put you in the driver's seat—managing actual budgets, solving real problems, and building skills that employers actually care about.
Applications open for September 2025 intake.
Budget Redesign Challenge
Students worked with Canberra-based small businesses to redesign their budgeting systems. Not hypothetical exercises—real companies with real financial pressures.
One team helped a family-run cafe shift from rigid annual budgets to a flexible monthly system. The cafe reduced wastage by 18% and freed up cash flow during slow winter months.
Personal Finance Tracker Build
Teams designed custom budget trackers for people with irregular income—freelancers, contractors, seasonal workers. The kind of people traditional banking tools leave behind.
Students interviewed users, built prototypes, tested them in the wild. Some projects were messy. Others brilliant. All of them taught valuable lessons about what actually works when money's tight.
How Projects Actually Work
No fluff. No fake scenarios. Just structured work that mirrors what you'll face in the field.
Choose Your Challenge
We partner with community organisations, local businesses, and nonprofits that need budget help but can't afford consultants. You pick a project that matches your interests—whether that's retail, healthcare, or creative industries.
Research and Plan
You'll spend weeks understanding the organisation's financial situation. Talk to stakeholders. Review their current systems. Identify what's broken and why. This phase separates theory from reality fast.
Build and Test
Create something useful. A new budgeting framework, a tracking system, a financial literacy workshop. Whatever fits the need. You'll test it, get feedback, revise it. Sometimes you'll scrap everything and start over.
Present and Reflect
Final presentations happen in front of the organisations you worked with, not just instructors. You'll explain your decisions, defend your approach, and discuss what didn't work. That last part matters more than you'd think.
Freya Lindqvist
Budget Systems Consultant
Freya spent a decade working with Melbourne retailers before shifting to education. She's supervised 40+ student projects and has zero patience for busywork.
Her students tackle real problems: helping restaurants survive quiet months, designing budget systems for gig workers, fixing broken expense tracking for nonprofits stretched too thin.
"I don't sugarcoat it. Some projects fail. Clients change their minds. Spreadsheets break. But that's when the learning happens—when you're figuring out Plan B at midnight because Plan A just collapsed."
Ready to Work on Something Real?
Our next project cohort starts in September 2025. You'll need basic budgeting knowledge and willingness to deal with ambiguity. We'll provide structure, mentorship, and access to partner organisations.
Get Project Details