SDSA bridges the gap in finance education by teaching the underrepresented debt side of the capital structure. Through case competitions and technical workshops, members develop credit analysis skills in a controlled environment, learning to model solutions and defend their assumptions before industry judges.
We prepare students to compete for roles in leveraged finance, private credit, and credit investing.
Comprehensive training in debt markets through hands-on experience
Finance education focuses on equity, but debt represents 60% of most capital structures. Our case competitions challenge students with realistic debt scenarios—from structuring acquisition financing to analyzing distressed credit situations. Participants receive a detailed case, build financial models to solve the problem, and present their recommendations to a panel of industry judges.
Teams must defend their assumptions, justify their capital structure decisions, and respond to tough questions from judges with real-world credit experience. This pressure-tested format develops the skills that matter from day one in leveraged finance: credit analysis, financial modeling, and the ability to articulate and defend your work.
Understanding debt markets requires mastering technical skills that textbooks don't teach. Our workshops cover the mechanics of leveraged finance that students need but rarely learn in class: reading credit agreements, structuring maintenance and incurrence covenants, calculating leverage and coverage ratios, performing EBITDA adjustments, and modelling downside scenarios.
Sessions combine fundamental instruction with hands-on practice, giving members the technical foundation to succeed in credit-focused interviews and internships.
We connect case competitions to real-world markets through weekly analysis of actual debt transactions. When members work through an automotive supplier financing case, our blog tracks real automotive supplier credit agreements filed that week—analyzing covenant structures, pricing trends, and leverage multiples.
This bridges the gap between theory and practice, providing members with current market context for their case work, concrete examples for interviews, and exposure to how credit professionals structure deals in today's environment.
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