The USC Marshall School of Business and the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy have announced a new joint degree, BS Real Estate Finance and Development (REFD), that combines the two school’s strengths in real estate finance, investment, development and urban planning to create a new world-class program.
Success in the real estate industry requires both expert financial skill and a keen understanding of planning, land use and development. This new degree will give students a deep dive into all of these facets of the industry and will feature frequent interactions with experienced real estate professionals.
“Together, the USC Price School and USC Marshall School will provide students with the skills and experience they need to succeed in an increasingly complex world,” said Dana Goldman, dean of the Price School and C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Chair.
The combined degree program will be offered to incoming freshmen in the fall of 2024, with an anticipated initial class size of less than 50 students. Students will enroll in a comprehensive core curriculum from each school, an applied project class and two summer internships.
The two schools have had strong but largely independent undergraduate real estate programs for decades. The USC Price School is the academic home to one of the nation’s leading real estate departments, the Wilbur H. Smith III Department of Real Estate Development, which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in real estate development and a curriculum that emphasizes market analysis, real estate product types and urban planning.
The USC Marshall School has an undergraduate emphasis in real estate finance and a REIT fund course, where students invest an endowment in publicly traded real estate investment funds.
The new program builds on the success of USC Marshall and USC Price School’s Lusk Center for Real Estate, and both schools enjoy close ties to local, regional and national real estate development and investment firms.
“Students in the new combined degree will benefit from integrated courses, cohort building and industry engagement – all while graduating in four years with one diploma endorsed by two schools,” said Marshall Dean Geoffrey Garrett.
