Several candidates have fit ARIMA processes to the college tuition CPI. College tuition at private universities has risen more rapidly in recent years than over price levels. Your student project can examine various time series, such as college tuition compared to the overall CPI, and various hypotheses, such as college tuition costs over various periods.

This candidate uses "R," a free statistical package that can be downloaded easily and is one of the most powerful statistical packages available. If you can handle the learning curve, "R" is a wonderful aid to actuarial work. "R" gives the autocorrelation function and the partial autocorrelation function, saving you much time, and it enables you to test more ARIMA processes. It is not for everyone: you must invest several days learning the software. If you use statistical techniques in your work, the time spent learning "R" is worthwhile.