2026 Winners
National Champion – University of Iowa
First Runner-Up – Notre Dame University
Second Runner-Up – Northeastern University

2026 Judges
Christi Hawley Anthony, Deputy Director, Budget Analysis Division at Congressional Budget Office
Caleb Quakenbush, Director, Bipartisan Policy Center
Martha Gimbel, Executive Director, Yale Budget Lab
Nan Swift, Resident Fellow, R Street

2026 Guest Organizations
Representatives from leading policy organizations:
Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), Cato Institute, Congressional Budget Office (CBO), National Taxpayers Union, Peter G. Peterson Foundation (PGPF), The Concord Coalition, Third Way, and Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

The Fiscal Challenge brings together undergraduate students from across the country to examine the federal government’s long-term fiscal outlook through economic analysis, quantitative reasoning, budget modeling, and policy communication. Teams develop and present evidence-based proposals designed to address the nation’s fiscal challenges while weighing tradeoffs among debt sustainability, economic growth, and public priorities.

2025–2026 Competition Timeline

• Fall 2025 – Winter 2026: Registration, team formation, research, and proposal development
• March 2026: First-round proposals submitted and reviewed
• April 9, 2026: Finalists gathered in Washington, D.C., including a visit to the Congressional Budget Office
• April 10, 2026: National Finals, keynote, career roundtables, awards, and reception at the Washington Marriott Capitol Hill

What Happened This Season

The 2026 competition cycle built on the previous year’s momentum with substantial growth in student, advisor, team, and school participation. Recruitment combined national outreach with targeted regional marketing and campus engagement. Across the season, 55 teams registered and 29 proposals were submitted, with roughly 300 students engaging in the program and 174 completing the competition process.

Teams worked through the research and proposal-development process with support from faculty advisors and Fiscal Challenge resources. The competition remained open to undergraduates across majors, encouraging students to approach federal fiscal policy from a range of academic and analytical perspectives.

2026 Finalists & Results

Six teams advanced to the National Finals in Washington, D.C., where they delivered 15-minute presentations followed by 15 minutes of Q&A with the judging panel.

National Champion  — University of Iowa
First Runner-Up  — University of Notre Dame
Second Runner-Up — Northeastern University
Finalist — Muskingum University
Finalist — Tufts University
Finalist — University of Virginia & Northwestern University

The University of Iowa’s championship was especially notable as a first-time Fiscal Challenge competitor.