Real Estate Scholarships

Get Paid to Learn the Trade

Are you interested in getting into real estate, but don’t have the funds to do so? Well, there are many financial opportunities available to those who need and deserve them the most. With the real estate market bouncing back after the recession, it’s a perfect time to enter this industry. Many students have the opportunity to enter this career without going to college. Either way there are scholarships and other financing capabilities available to those who qualify.

Private Funding

The Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) is a non-profit trade association dedicated to serving its members who participate in institutional real estate investment through educational forums, research initiatives, information exchange, and membership interaction. Like many other professional organizations they make a point to financially help students in order to encourage and develop the next generation of leaders. The PREA Scholarship Program is designed to aid highly achieving students who are studying real estate at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Each year, approximately $30,000 is awarded by PREA in conjunction with the Robert A. Toigo Foundation.

The Illinois Real Estate Educational Foundation offers a number of scholarships to students studying real estate. Each year they award over $25,000 in scholarships to students so they can pursue their future careers in the real estate industry:

• Illinois Minority Real Estate Scholarship Program- this award goes to racial minority residents of Illinois who are either studying to enter careers relating to real estate, or who are currently real estate professionals in order to better their skills and knowledge in the industry.
• Past Presidents Scholarship- Illinois residents who are members of the Illinois Association of REALTORS® so they can get their Graduate REALTOR® Institute or Certified Residential broker designation.
• Roxane Malo Leadership Scholarship- this award assist practicing REALTORS who are interested in going back to school. Preference is given to those who are interested in management and leadership roles in the industry.

Click here for a list of all the scholarships the Illinois Real Estate Education Foundation offers

College Scholarships

The College of Business at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) is dedicated to giving their students the best chance to succeed. They have a very heavy focus in real estate research. The University of Illinois has a history of their Finance and Economics students entering the world of real estate. Their College of Business has created a few scholarships directly aimed to aid these students with a career in real estate in mind:

• Morgan Fitch Scholarship Fund- each year this scholarship is presented to one UIUC junior, senior, or graduate student majoring in Finance with a concentration in real estate. This award is for $2,000. Students who apply for this award also are eligible to apply for the Thomas F. Seay Scholarship and Academic Scholarships. These two provide $2,000 and $1,000 in financial aid.
• CCIM Scholarships- the CCIM Education Foundation offers this award to a UIUC junior or senior who has demonstrated academic excellence and is intending to pursue a career in commercial investment real estate. This annual scholarship is for $1,000.
• First-Site Scholarships- First Site Ltd. provides this annual $1,000 scholarship to a UIUC junior or senior looking towards a career in commercial-investment real estate.
• Ronald B. and LaVerne Shipka Scholarships- this scholarship provides a student in the College of Business a $5,000 award. This scholarship can be renewed annually depending on the academic performance of the student.
• Eisenberg Foundation Scholarships- any student majoring in Finance with a with a concentration in real estate is eligible for this award. It covers the tuition and fees for a Fall and Spring semester at UIUC.