Kansas University students are hoping to get some hands-on experience in the business world while offering their services for free.

After about a 10-year hiatus, the Kansas University School of Business has restarted a class that provides consulting services to area businesses. The Small Business Management class comprises about 25 juniors and seniors.

Joyce Claterbos, instructor, said the class would tackle business issues such as updating business plans, developing marketing strategies or helping a company expand its product offerings.

“These are students that have had the basic course work,” Claterbos said. “They know the theoretical and conceptual way things should be done. This is their way to see what happens in the real world.”

The class will work with about five businesses during a 10-week period each semester. Businesses are still needed for the fall and spring semesters.

“The businesses can pretty much expect that they’re going to get 150 to 200 hours of free consulting,” Claterbos said.

In return, the business owner or top manager is expected to be available at least once a week to discuss the project with the students, and the class prefers to have access to the company’s financial records. All class members sign a confidentiality agreement to not disclose private information. Businesses also will be asked to pay about $100 in expenses the students may incur, such as postage, mileage and phone bills.

John Kiefer, president of Kief’s Audio Video in Lawrence, said he worked with a group of students when his business opened in 1959.

“I really valued it because I was brand new and really didn’t know anything about business other than I knew I wanted to be in business,” Kiefer said.

He said the experience was so valuable that he worked with several more classes.

“I think in the beginning that I learned far more from them than they did from me,” Kiefer said. “But as time went on I think I became a valuable resource for them because I had some stories to tell about previous failures.”

Claterbos is hoping her students receive that same experience.

“We’re hoping they get the chance to learn from somebody who has been through it and has the scars to prove it,” Claterbos said.

The business school previously offered a similar class in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration, but Claterbos said the class was discontinued about 10 years ago when funding for the program became uncertain.