The Cal Poly Financial Aid and Scholarship Office is excited to announce that there is a single place for current students to apply for all Cal Poly scholarships. Starting early March, you can click on the Cal Poly Scholarship app on the left side of your portal to complete the application scholarship consideration. The application will be reviewed by colleges and departments for major specific scholarships as well as being used for university-wide scholarships.

The Landscape Architecture Department offers scholarships to landscape architecture majors. These scholarships recognize need, promise, and achievement in a broad range of activities related to landscape architecture. To qualify for need-based scholarships, applicants must have applied for FAFSA. Complete the federal application (FAFSA) here. If you have any questions, please contact the Financial Aid Office at 805-756-2927 or email financialaid@calpoly.edu. Recipients are selected in the spring quarter and the financial award is given in the fall.

The Landscape Architecture Department offers the following scholarships that are generally awarded based on the evaluation of student applications (although the department may consider other students when the applicant pool does not provide the best students based on the scholarship's criteria):

Douglas Baylis, FASLA Memorial Scholarship

The Douglas Baylis, FASLA, College of Architecture and Environmental Design Memorial Scholarship was established in 1998 by the Maggie Baylis Revocable Living Trust in memory of her husband, Douglas Baylis. Mr. Baylis was a well-recognized landscape architect in California and the country and received an ASLA "Fellowship" award.

Landscape Architecture majors at any class level are eligible to apply, as long as the individual will be a student during the following academic year. A minimum 3.0 GPA is required.

The LA department scholarship committee reviews submissions (application and portfolio of project examples) and recommends the recipient to the CAED Scholarship Committee for final approval.

Previous recipient(s):

HLA Group/Robert Hablitzel Scholarship

The HLA Group established an endowment to honor its founding principal, Robert D. Hablitzel, who graduated from Cal Poly/San Luis Obispo in 1972. The gift commemorates the 2003 retirement of Mr. Hablitzel from the firm he founded in 1980. The endowment funds scholarships to help students pursue a fourth or fifth year of landscape architecture study.

Students currently in their third or fourth year of study are eligible for consideration. A minimum 3.2 Cal Poly cumulative GPA for major courses is required, with preference given to the candidate with the highest Cal Poly cumulative GPA for major courses. Where multiple candidates have the same high Cal Poly cumulative GPA for major courses, preference is given to the candidate who is most involved with volunteer activities within the community. 

Previous recipient(s):

Ian Casey Memorial Travel Scholarship

The Ian Casey Memorial Travel Scholarship supports a Landscape Architecture students with demonstrated financial need participating in one of Cal Poly's many travel abroad program opportunities.  The intent of the scholarship is to assist a student who loves traveling and would otherwise be unable to do so.  The scholarship honors the life of Ian Casey, who graduated in 2011 with a degree in Landscape Architecture, and to continue his legacy of generosity, hard work and love of life. LA students in all class levels are available to apply. Applicants must meet the financial need criteria and student must be accepted to study abroad program.

Previous recipient(s):

Kennedy Love Memorial Scholarship

The Kennedy Love scholarship supports continuing Cal Poly students majoring in Landscape Architecture and City and Regional Planning.  Students must show financial need and be graduates of a CA high school or a veteran of the armed forces from any state with a preference for first-generation college students.  Selected students must have demonstrated volunteerism, collaboration and advancement of the design profession consistent with Cal Poly's "Learn by Doing"  This scholarship was set up to honor the life of Kennedy Love, a Landscape Architecture student tragically killed while bicycling near campus.  His volunteerism and involvement with his major is reflected in the requirements of the scholarship. Class levels, Sophomore, Junior or Senior may apply.

Previous recipient(s):

Courtland Studio Scholarship for Cultivating Strategic Methodologies & Propagating Ubiquitous Ecologies

The Courtland Studio Scholarship supports a fourth-year Cal Poly student majoring in Landscape Architecture. Students must have a minimum 2.5 GPA, with preference given to students with high financial need. The student should demonstrate leadership in the Landscape Architecture Department, and preferably have completed a class in Irrigation Design. 

Previous recipient(s):

Gary Dwyer Memorial Scholarship

The Gary Dwyer Memorial Scholarship was established by generous donation from Dr. Odile Ayral and first awarded in the 2022-23 academic year. This scholarship assists Landscape Architecture juniors, seniors, and fifth-year students who demonstrate a strong interest in design.

Gary Dwyer joined the Cal Poly Landscape Architecture Department in 1973 and taught there for 35 years. He had a double degree in Fine Arts and Landscape Architecture from Syracuse University, and an MFA in sculpture from the University of Denver. A gifted artist and a passionate world traveler, he received numerous commissions to create sculptures and fountains in steel or stone... won various competitions for landscape architecture projects... and photographed landscapes and monuments for UNESCO, World Monument Funds, Monet's garden in Giverny, etc.

But it was in his teaching that his remarkable qualities and his love of life truly shone. As one former student beautifully wrote: "He was smart, inspiring, creative, immensely capable, elegantly articulate and much of the time covered in sawdust." Like Pericles whom he sometimes quoted, Gary Dwyer believed that "what you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others." This scholarship is part of his legacy to students in Landscape Architecture. 

Previous recipient(s):

Landscape Architecture Department Advisory Council

These scholarships are awarded to students who best exemplify skills that the LADAC considers important for future leaders in the profession:

• Sophomore students should be selected based on pursing potential, whether or not they have achieved it.  The focus is on what they have done to persistently gain knowledge and skills and most importantly, their attitude towards learning and reaching that potential.
• Junior students should have obtained a level of skill based on talent, attitude and hard work.  Skills in hand sketching, computer graphics, technology, research, presentation, planning or writing can all by considered.
• Senior students should show leadership in promoting the profession or the LARC department through involvement in organizations, volunteer groups, other disciplines or the profession.
• Fifth year senior students should show leadership through involvement in organizations, volunteer groups or other disciplines and have obtained a high level of skill based on talent, attitude and hard work. 

Previous recipient(s):

 

 

Nominated Awards

Each year the Landscape Architecture Department nominates students to receive certain awards based on particular criteria. These awards do not have an open application; instead, a nominee decided by faculty vote is invited to submit an application. These awards include:

CLASS Fund University Scholarship

The California Landscape Architecture Student Scholarship (CLASS) Fund scholarship selection criteria includes student financial need, potential success in the profession, academic status, community involvement, and leadership capabilities. CLASS brings together landscape architects, contractors, suppliers, and affiliated members of the green industry for interaction and fellowship while generating operational and endowment funds for scholarships, internships and fellowships at institutions offering curriculums in landscape architecture and industry-related fields of study.

Previous nominee/recipient(s):

CLASS Fund Memorial Student Scholarship in Honor of Alec Balliet

This scholarship is in memory of Alec Balliet, a graduate from the Cal Poly LA program. It is awarded to the student who most embodies Alec's qualities - zest and a passion for life, highly developed creative and artistic skills, willingness to help others, and consistent selflessness and generosity.

Previous nominee/recipient(s):

LAF Olmsted Scholar Program

The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Olmsted Scholars Program recognizes and supports students with exceptional leadership potential who are using ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership to advance sustainable design and foster human and societal benefits.

Named for Frederick Law Olmsted, the LAF Olmsted Scholars Program with its $25,000 graduate and $15,000 undergraduate prize is the premier leadership recognition program for landscape architecture students. The program recognizes one outstanding student from each accredited landscape architecture program in the U.S. and Canada, along with the jury-selected graduate and undergraduate national award winners and finalists. Students are both honored for past achievements and recognized for their future potential to influence the landscape architecture discipline. Website

Previous nominee/recipient(s):

CELA Fountain Scholar Program

The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Fountain Scholar Program is an endowed annual award in recognition and support of Black, Indigenous, and persons (students) of color in landscape architecture with exceptional design skills and who use their skills and ideas to influence, communicate, lead, and advance design solutions for contemporary issues in a manner aligned with the original goals of Dr. Charles Fountain.

The CELA Fountain Scholar Program provides a $2,000.00 scholarship for one graduate or undergraduate landscape architecture student each year. Students are both honored for past achievements and recognized for their future potential to influence the landscape architecture profession. Website

Previous nominee/recipient(s):

 

Other Department Awards

Community Impact Award

This award recognizes a student who has contributed to DEI, social justice, community (Landscape Architecture, Cal Poly, local), well-being, and leadership in the program.

All students in the LARC program are eligible to be nominated by faculty, peers, or self, with a one-page statement of interest. A call for nominations will be announced in early fall quarter/semester; a candidate will be selected by faculty in December; and the recipient will be recognized at the Department Scholarships & Awards ceremony in spring.

Senior Awards (5th Year)

Department Award for Academic Excellence: recognizes a student (per class) with the highest Cal Poly GPA during their entire time in the program.

Department Award for Outstanding Design: recognizes a student (per studio) who consistently exhibits excellence in the design studios throughout their time in the program.

Department Award for Outstanding Process: recognizes a student (per studio) for how they research, innovate, and push their design over the course of all five years.

Department Award for Outstanding Senior Project: recognizes a senior project (per studio) that displays outstanding design and research: method, process, and execution. The capstone instructors nominate projects and faculty make the final selection(s) at the senior show.

Student Golden Eagle Award: intended for members of the fifth-year class show their appreciation for one of their classmates for going beyond what is expected in their day-to-day working relationship and being able to give to others in times of need. Recipients receive $50 (per studio).

 

CAED Scholarships

A number of scholarships are available each year which is administered through Cal Poly's College of Architecture and Environmental Design. For information on the CAED scholarships which are open to LA majors, go to the CAED Scholarships web page.