DURHAM, N.C. — Students working on MBAs at Duke's Fuqua School of Business are available to help small businesses with consulting services.

The program enables first-year MBA students to receive credit in exchange for working with private-sector firms, The Fuqua Small Business Consulting program has provided services to more than 200 companies over the past 20 years.

To be eligible, businesses must meet the following criteria:

Be in operation for at least one year

Be within a one-hour drive of Duke

Have revenues exceeding $100,000 for the past business year

Be willing to provide financial data (one-year minimum) and operational data to the student consultants

Be available to meet with the student team a minimum of five or six times during the project (October 2006 through April 2007)

Pay a $200 administrative fee if accepted into the consulting program

The application deadline is Aug. 31.

For details, see:

www.fuqua.duke.edu/news/studentconsulting-0806.html