Fall 2026 Undergraduate Newsletter Issue 2
Opportunities and events reflect the original newsletter publication date, September 11, 2026.
Internship & Job Opportunities
Banking & Finance Research Associate — Federal Reserve Bank of KC
- Deadline: November 30
- Location: Kansas City, Missouri
- Pay: $59,000 - $76,300
- Best For: economics, statistics, math
- Term: Two years, starting Summer 2027
Apply: Banking & Finance Research Associate — Federal Reserve Bank of KC
Research Assistant — Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
- Deadline: August 29 - December 1
- Location: Chicago, Illinois (hybrid)
- Pay: $75,000 starting
- Best For: economics, finance, math, data science, public policy
- Term: Two years, full-time
Apply: Research Assistant — Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Research Associate — Federal Reserve Bank of KC
- Deadline: November 30
- Location: Kansas City, Missouri
- Pay: $59,000 - $76,300
- Best For: economics, statistics, math
- Term: Two years, starting Summer 2027
Apply: Research Associate — Federal Reserve Bank of KC
Payments Research Associate — Federal Reserve Bank of KC
- Deadline: November 1
- Location: Kansas City, Missouri
- Pay: $59,000 - $76,300
- Best For: economics, statistics, math
- Term: Two years, starting Fall/Winter 2026
Apply: Payments Research Associate — Federal Reserve Bank of KC
Student Accomplishments
- Maddie Doyle ’28 — Financial Services Intern, Federal Reserve Bank of KC | Summer ’26
- Riya Kesavan ’27 — Supervision and Risk MGMT Intern, Federal Reserve Bank of KC | Summer ’26
- Kristy Ingles Nguyen ’27 — Undergraduate Research Award | Fall ’26
- Nathan Binshtok ’27 — Audit Intern, United States Trustee Program | Fall ’26
Share your accomplishments by filling out the student accomplishments form!
Upcoming Events
KU Econ Club Meeting: Q&A with a Professor
Join the Econ Club for a discussion with Dr. Parsaeian regarding advice for undergraduates, departmental resources/opportunities, and more!
When: September 22, 2026, 5:00pm - 6:00pm. Where: Snow 120.
Alumni Highlight
Mariia Verbytska | B.S. ’25
Economics Ph.D. Student, Texas A&M
Mariia is a second-year Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University, with research interests in econometrics and macroeconomics. Her current research focuses on improving financial market forecasts, especially when economic conditions change over time.
She credits ECON 497 and ECON 697 with teaching her the full research process, from framing a question and reviewing the literature through empirical analysis and presenting results.
Her advice is to be deliberate about your education: approach professors, ask questions, and choose challenging courses over ones that promise an easy A.
For anyone considering a Ph.D., she suggests asking to audit a first-year doctoral course in micro, macro, or econometrics to see what the work involves.
Know an alum with an inspiring story? Nominate them here!
Economics in Everyday Life
Rent works on a longer cycle than many other prices because the CPI measures rents paid by existing tenants as well as new leases. The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects rent data from each sampled housing unit every six months, and most observations represent continuing rents rather than rents that have recently changed. As a result, changes in asking rents can take time to feed through to the CPI rent measure.
This lag helps explain why the CPI measure of rent can continue rising even after market rents have begun to cool. In other words, today's rent figures do not necessarily capture the most recent conditions facing renters. The CPI is designed to measure the prices consumers are actually paying, rather than simply the latest asking rents advertised by landlords.
That distinction is important when interpreting the chart. While rent of primary residence has risen substantially since January 2020, its current year-over-year growth rate is not necessarily higher than overall inflation. In July 2026, for example, rent of primary residence was up 2.9% from a year earlier, compared with a 3.4% increase in the all-items CPI.
The larger takeaway is that inflation does not affect every expense on the same timeline. Some prices respond quickly to changes in economic conditions, while others, particularly housing costs measured through existing leases, adjust more gradually. Looking only at the headline CPI can therefore obscure how differently individual expenses have changed over time.
Source: Consumer Price Index by category, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chart shows CPI for rent of primary residence and all items, seasonally adjusted, January 2020 through July 2026.
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