Empowering Students Through Real Estate Scholarships
Pursuing a graduate or an undergraduate real estate degree at the University of San Diego Knauss School of Business is a transformative journey that enhances knowledge, expands horizons and opens doors to a promising career in real estate.
The cost of a graduate or undergraduate degree can be a significant barrier for many aspiring students. Both merit-based and need-based scholarships offered through the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate provide financial support, that empowers students and enables them to pursue their academic dreams. These scholarships offer tremendous impact for individual recipients to help lessen the burden of tuition fees, living expenses and/or financial loans.
Many of the internal and external scholarships offered through the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate recognize students from diverse backgrounds and encourage and empower them to pursue their real estate journey. And, most importantly, scholarships offer a gateway to boundless opportunities for relationship building, jobs and recognition for deserving individuals.
Over the last 10 years, the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate has grown its scholarship offerings (both internal and external) to more than $600,000 per year for undergraduate and graduate real estate students. Joe Bertocchini ’01, senior manager of student, industry and alumni development, has played a significant role in this success by collaborating with USD real estate alumni, real estate trade organizations (like NAIOP, CREW, and ULI) and BMC supporters to create an impressive list of scholarships available to Knauss School of Business students interested in pursuing a career in real estate.
Bertocchini says, “2022-2023 was a stellar year for scholarships. We awarded nearly $350,000 in the fall and spring semester to remarkable USD real estate students and $256,500 of that amount was made available as a direct result of generous donors to the current Burnham-Moores Center's Campaign for Student Success. We look forward to watching on as they pursue their careers in real estate. We look forward to watching on as they pursue their careers in real estate.”
In March 2023, we shared news that recent Master of Science in Real Estate graduate Samantha (Hoyle) Willcock ’23 MSRE was the recipient of the Mildred C. Hanson SIOR Memorial Scholarship by the SIOR Foundation (Society of Industrial and Office REALTORS). That scholarship was created to honor and support women in commercial real estate.
Since receiving that scholarship, Samantha continued to receive recognition for her exceptional academic performance and contributions while in the MSRE program, tallying up an impressive $31,500 in scholarship awards. Scholarships bestowed upon Samantha included:
The MSRE Inclusion Scholarship
Dean’s Merit Scholarship
MSRE Study Abroad Scholarship
Mark J. Riedy Endowed Legacy Scholarship
Scott McIntyre Real Estate Scholarship
SIOR Mildred C. Hanson Memorial Fund Scholarship
NAIOP 2023 Diversity Student Scholarship
AIERF Women & Minorities Scholarship.
This is a very impressive amount of scholarship awards and Willcock shared that it had a huge impact on her experience as a graduate student.
“One of the biggest things that was holding me back from pursuing a master’s degree was the cost of the program,” says Willcock. “I was able to pay off my undergraduate loans early and I was extremely hesitant to take out student loans again. Being able to graduate with limited debt has had a huge impact on my financial situation and stress level. The high cost of education holds a lot of people back from pursuing their degrees, so I am extremely grateful to all of the organizations that are willing and able to contribute financially.”
Willcock learned about the vast number of real estate scholarships available to her while she was applying to the Master of Science in Real Estate program at USD. The well-rounded curriculum and the opportunity to obtain financial support through these scholarships was a major draw for Willcock. The Burnham-Moores Center team played an integral role in supporting Samantha through the scholarship application process.
“When I initially explored the program, Catherine Northcutt [’96, ’19 MA, communication outreach and MSRE recruitment manager] made me aware of the numerous scholarships available and introduced me to Joe Bertocchini [’01, senior manager of student, industry and alumni development],” says Willcock. “After I was accepted into the program, I had many conversations with Joe to discuss my options and he was proactive in letting our cohort know about scholarship eligibility and upcoming deadlines. Joe was very approachable and constantly made himself available to answer my questions, review essays and applications, and always provided valuable feedback.”
During her journey in the MSRE program, Willcock was selected to participate on the ARGUS University Challenge team. Master's in real estate students have the opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom and partake in highly competitive real estate case competitions. This challenge brings together student teams from universities around the world to simulate a comprehensive real-life development analysis of a fictitious commercial real estate project. In the ten years the competition has been held, the Knauss School of Business team has taken first place on seven occasions and second place on three occasions.
“I feel very fortunate to have participated in the ARGUS University Challenge this year,” says Willcock. “I learn best through real-world examples and this case study taught me a lot. The team spent a lot of time on this project and in the end, we took second place, which was a huge honor.”
Following graduation from the MSRE program in Spring 2023, Willcock joined the asset management team at Chelsea Investment Corporation. In this role, she is responsible for managing a portfolio of affordable assets, including financial reporting and compliance.
“There would have been a much larger learning curve had I not completed USD’s MSRE program,” says Willcock. “It expanded upon the knowledge I gained during my time in property management which also helped me pivot my career into asset management.”
Willcock strongly encourages undergraduate and MSRE students to get involved with the BMC early and take advantage of the services and scholarships that the center offers real estate students.
“Connect with Joe early on and keep an eye out for his emails regarding scholarship opportunities,” says Willcock. “Start your essays early and be prepared to request letters of recommendation from your mentors, professors and other industry professionals. While it may feel like a lot of work on top of your studies, the payoff (literally) is well worth the effort!”