Scholarships—Gifts That Keep on Giving
For many aspiring real estate professionals, the journey to a successful career begins with education, but financial barriers can often stand in the way. When USD students are awarded a real estate scholarship, it is often a game-changer that makes a remarkable impact. Scholarships for real estate students don’t just alleviate financial stress—they open doors to opportunities and help students build relationships that might otherwise be out of reach. Scholarships are more than just funding—they’re the key to unlocking a brighter future in real estate.
On March 30, the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate's Executive Director Emeritus Mark J. Riedy, PhD, wrote an essay, as part of his series of essays, on the importance of student scholarships. Read the essay below.
To be added to Dr. Riedy’s distribution list (no cost) send your name and email address to him at mriedy@sandiego.edu.
"It's hard for me to believe I retired a decade ago, but there's a lot of wisdom packed into a saying I heard recently: ‘Days move slowly. Years fly by.’ Many of you attended my retirement dinner and contributed to the $330,000 raised that evening to create the permanently endowed Riedy Legacy Scholarship. I am proud of the $147,000 already awarded to 24 students, both undergraduate and graduate, since the first scholarship was awarded in academic year 2016 - 2017. I join with all of these students, with many more to come in the future, in expressing my heartfelt appreciation for your generosity and faith in these wonderful students and in me.
Scholarships will forever be high on my list of personal priorities in particular because I earned an MBA degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a PhD in business economics from the University of Michigan without spending a penny for tuition, supplies or fees. It is important for me to pay forward the gifts of educational support I received many moons ago. What we built together over time at the University of San Diego, a nationally ranked real estate program, benefited greatly from the scholarship support we generated to attract bright, talented students and prepare them for outstanding careers in real estate. I've attended a couple of Burnham-Moores Center and USD events recently and must say that I am in awe at how far the University, under Jim Harris's vision and direction, and the Center, under Stath Karras's leadership, have come in terms of the quality of the education and educational support infrastructure provided to USD graduate and undergraduate students. The monies we raised with your help are critically important for the University and the Burnham-Moores Center to continue their upward trajectory, and please take these comments as referring to all manner of scholarships, including but not limited to real estate.
During February, I had the pleasure of sharing time over breakfast with several of the most recent Riedy Scholarship winners. And at the University's Scholarship Appreciation Luncheon on March 25, I spent quality time with three Riedy scholarship winners. The adjoining table included new winners of Ferber Scholarships and Mulvihill scholarships, all real estate-oriented students. Moreover, while the Luncheon program featured scholarships for members of the armed forces, one of the three students shown on the video was also a real estate student. As a group, these students are an incredibly enthusiastic, engaged, intelligent and pleasant cohort of young adults. There is no doubt in my mind these young men and women will leave the world a much better place than when they arrived.
They reminded me of an equally outstanding student a couple of years ago, who after a luncheon to recognize and honor the Riedy and Gianulis scholarship winners, with a tear in her eye, thanked us for having faith in her. It was life-changing for this young woman. We who have designed the plans and helped to raise the monies that created several scholarships at the Burnham-Moores Center, are the pretty faces behind the program. But the truth is that your private support and the generosity of real estate professionals and firms, to name a few, made the Gianulis, Ferber, Mulvihill and Riedy scholarships happen. On behalf of all of the students, who go out of their way often to indicate they intend to pay those gifts forward, thank you for your faith in the students, and in the faculty who provide such excellent educations year-in and year-out. (I know it's the second time I thanked you in one essay, but I believe you can never express appreciation too often!)
Last point. Please keep in mind the wonderful leveraging scholarships create. They enable deserving students to be educated at one of the top-ranked real estate programs in America. As alumni, they will strengthen their communities and advance the professionalism of the industry. And before too long, they will begin serving as mentors, offering internships, and hiring the next generation of USD graduates, individuals who will have had even greater opportunities to qualify for scholarships as the endowments grow over time. Rather than consider scholarship awards solely as the culmination of a highly competitive application process, therefore, I urge you also to view them as the beginning of something new and profound: jump-starting the launch of lifelong productive relationships among students, employers, donors, alumni, faculty and staff, and the communities they serve. Truly a win-win-win-win-win-win-win outcome.”
—By Mark J. Riedy, PhD, Executive Director Emeritus of the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate and Principal of Riedy Advisors