URBALO

Roosevelt University will start offering a master’s degree in Real Estate at their Walter E. Heller College of Business. This program applies to women only at this time and is designed to help advance the careers of women in commercial real estate.

The new program provides a stipend or scholarship, career counseling and placement assistance, forums and networking events for as many as 10 women a year who are working toward a master’s degree. The program is funded by a three-year, $300,000 commitment from the Jack and Goldie Wolfe Miller Foundation. According to Ms. Wolfe Miller,

I want more women in high levels of the professional arena in the real estate industry.”

A 2005 nationwide survey by the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network, whose local chapter is providing many of the mentors, found some evidence of a glass ceiling in the industry. Only 23% of women with more than 20 years experience surveyed held the title of president, chief executive or chief financial officer, vs. 44% of men surveyed with more than 20 years experience.

For students, the master degrees are often expensive; at private universities, many students take out $50,000 in loans for every year of school. And scholarships and fellowships are rare, unlike doctoral programs, which are usually fully financed by universities. To many, the investment in a master degree is worth it and they are able to pay off their student loans within two years after graduation, due to a higher salary negotiated.

The University of Phoenix, is a school focusing mostly on online education, but it still has 60 branch campuses and around 200,000 students. The school awards over 30,000 master’s degrees in a year, and the number is increasing. The tuition for a master’s degree is also lower than traditional campus-based universities.

The Master Degrees in Real Estate are becoming more and more popular these days and many successful real estate agents are considering them.