By Joshua Burd
The Center for Real Estate at Rutgers Business School has awarded more than $113,000 in scholarships this year to nearly 30 graduates and undergraduates in the program.
This semester alone, the center said 20 undergraduate students were each awarded $2,500 and eight MBA or masters students were each awarded $3,500, for a total of $78,000. The scholarship funds come in part from the annual membership fees from the center’s Advisory Board and Emerging Leaders Council.
The grants were awarded following a review by a committee made up of Advisory Board members, who selected the recipients based on the students’ overall dedication, commitment and enthusiasm to the field of real estate, according to a news release. Students have had the opportunity to apply for scholarships in each semester since fall 2015, a year after the program was established on the back of a $1.5 million donation from real estate investor Paul V. Profeta.
“While it has been my pleasure to serve on the board since the establishment of the Center for Real Estate, I have received the most satisfaction from co-chairing the Scholarship Committee with Ron Ladell,” said Lynn deCastro, executive director of PGIM Real Estate, a member of the Center for Real Estate’s executive committee and co-chair of the scholarship committee. “Our committee has reviewed dozens of applications and assisted many students with their tuition payments and loans, helping them to graduate with the skills that can provide them with rewarding professional careers in real estate.”
Several students have received multiple scholarships from the program and many of the first set of scholarship recipients have graduated and are now working in the real estate industry.
“The Center continues to grow and expand its student population and course offerings,” said Ron Ladell, senior vice president of AvalonBay Communities Inc., who is also a member of the executive committee and the other co-chair of the scholarship committee. “This semester we were pleased to receive more than 50 applications allowing the committee to select the top 28 as scholarship recipients.”
Editor’s note: Paul V. Profeta is the owner and publisher of Real Estate NJ. Profeta’s $1.5 million donation in 2013 helped launch The Rutgers Center for Real Estate and endow an academic chair in the field. The program has since attracted broad support from some of the state’s top players in real estate, with a stated goal of becoming the top academic and research program of its kind, while improving the industry and providing a link between the state’s top real estate firms and the next generation of professionals.
