Wall Street may be in panic mode lately but for one group of student investors at Northwest Nazarene University the returns have been rolling in.

A group of 20 NNU students have been serving as investment managers for the NNU Student Managed Fund since 2004. That's when the Investment Committee of the school's Foundation Board gave students an initial $50,000 to invest. Since they're investing school money, students put a lot of effort in.

"I think you take the job more seriously," student investor Preston O'Malley said, "With fake money it would be like a poker game."

Students meet regularly throughout the semester to research, discuss and vote on companies they will invest in. The results are pretty startling. According to the University, the cumulative return on student investments of the initial $50,000 is 27.6 percent in four years. For comparison, The Russell 2000 Value Index returned 15.01 percent over the same period.

Students call the management opportunity a fantastic hands-on learning experience.