About the Scholarship
When comparing Texas REALTORS® membership demographics as a whole versus the demographics of the association’s commercial members, we can see significant disparities emerge. For example, Black and African Americans comprise 10% of total membership but only 3% of commercial membership. Similarly, those identifying as Hispanic or Latino include 15% of full membership but only 9% of commercial membership. The TACS Scholarship is intended to encourage greater diversity in commercial real estate and alleviate these types of gaps.
The Texas REALTORS® TACS Scholarship is for members with less than five years of experience in commercial real estate who have faced discrimination, exclusion, or hardship in their entry into commercial real estate based on their status in a protected class. Protected classes include race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The scholarship aims to increase diversity in commercial real estate services by funding scholarship recipients’ completion of the Texas Accredited Commercial Specialist (TACS) program. The total scholarship value is approximately $1,000 per recipient and covers the following TACS program costs:
- TACS 1: Introduction to Commercial Real Estate (30-hour course)
- TACS 2: Commercial Real Estate Property Development (30-hour course)
- TACS 3: Commercial Real Estate Marketing & Negotiation (30-hour course)
- TACS certification application fee
Funding
Scholarship funds for the TACS coursework will be reimbursed incrementally by Texas REALTORS® to scholarship recipients upon successful completion of each TACS course. To increase commitment and accountability, recipients are required to pay the course provider upfront for each course. Scholarship recipients shall provide an advance 30-day notice to rkovar@texasrealtos.com of any specific TACS course they plan to attend. This will ensure that reimbursement can be processed in a timely manner following course completion.
Texas REALTORS® will waive recipients’ TACS certification application fee upon completing the coursework and submitting an otherwise completed TACS Certification Application.
Requirements
To receive the total scholarship value, scholarship recipients must:
- Complete all TACS coursework within one (1) year of being awarded the scholarship.