Master of Landscape Architecture

Shape the Landscape. Shape the Future.

The Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program at the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design equips students with a solid foundation in design, technical skills, and hands-on experience essential for success in both public service and private practice. Through immersive service-learning projects, students engage with communities, developing the expertise and values needed to address critical health, safety, and environmental challenges.

Our MLA program also empowers students to explore their unique paths within the profession, whether by advancing as leaders in practice, pursuing academia, or pushing boundaries through scholarly discovery. With a focus on shaping resilient, inspiring spaces, the CED’s MLA program prepares graduates to excel as innovative practitioners, educators, and researchers in the planning, design, and management of the natural and built environment.

Apply to MLA

About

Admissions

Curriculum

Career Information

Career Outcomes

2023 MLA Career Outcomes

Funding + Scholarships

The University of Georgia Bursar‘s webpage has the most up-to-date information about tuition and fees for the current and past school years. Be sure to note that the MLA program falls under Specific Graduate Rates and not the Standard Graduate Rate. In addition to tuition, there are mandatory fees that give students access to the Athens and UGA bus system, the Ramsey Student Center for recreational sports, and more.

The University of Georgia and the College of Environment and Design (CED) offer various scholarships, fellowships, tuition waivers, and assistantships to help MLA students defray the cost of graduate school. The program coordinator can assign MLA students graduate assistantships based on funding from the CED, the University of Georgia Graduate School, and outside granting agencies. Finally, some students from outside Georgia are eligible for out-of-state tuition waivers, which can be acquired based on state of residence, academic merit, or a change of residency. While every attempt is made to seek funding for graduate students, it is not guaranteed.

In addition to funding available through UGA, each year a variety of organizations offer scholarships to alleviate the cost of tuition and support research. Many summer internships come with a stipend to defray living expenses. It is also possible to maintain a part-time job while in the MLA program, though time management and prioritization are crucial to balancing work with studies.

Graduate Assistantships

Graduate Assistantships are offered on a competitive basis and come from a variety of sources. Assistantships provided through the College of Environment and Design (CED) are awarded annually on a semester-by-semester basis. Assistantships require at least 13 hours of work each week, in addition to an academic load requirement of 12 semester hours. The stipend is available each month for up to nine months of the academic year. Note that a CED student can be awarded an assistantship from another UGA department/college, but CED will not disburse funds from other departments/colleges on campus. 

For graduate assistantships, no special application is required; all entering students who meet the criteria and apply by February 1 are considered. While every effort is made to support graduate students during their time in the program through assistantships and scholarships, it is not typical for MLA graduate students to receive consistent or full funding for their studies through the college.

For more information regarding funding options for the MLA program, please contact the CED Graduate Program Administrator Annelie Klein.

Other Funding Options

In addition to MLA assistantships, students may be eligible for college- and university-level funding opportunities. Availability varies and is competitive.

CED Scholarships.

Scholarships offered through the UGA College of Environment + Design. Most awards are for currently enrolled CED students and typically have an annual application cycle.
Explore CED Scholarships

UGA Graduate School Funding.

The Graduate School maintains a list of funding pathways such as assistantships, fellowships, and travel grants. Funding is not guaranteed.
View Graduate School Funding Resources

Application Fee Waivers.

Some applicants to the Graduate School at the University of Georgia, such as veterans and applicants from feeder schools, qualify for an application fee waiver.
Learn About Application Fee Waivers

Questions about MLA funding?

Contact the CED Graduate Program Administrator Annelie Klein.

MLA Student Resources

Social Media

Follow the CED on Instagram

Follow the MLA program on Instagram

Student Handbook

MLA Student Handbook

MLA Reading List

All students should read at least some of the following publications, or ones like them, before entering Georgia’s MLA program. They are preliminary to landscape architecture: they deal more with values and perceptions than with techniques. Some of them may be out of print and available only libraries, not bookstores; that does not reduce their value as background to landscape architecture.

Books

American Landscape Architecture, edited by William Tishler
Architecture: Form, Space & Order, Francis D.K. Ching
Bounded People, Boundless Lands, Eric Frey Fogle
Celebrating Third Place, edited by Ray Oldenburg
Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs
Design with Nature, Ian L. McHarg
Earth in Mind, David Orr
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Janisse Ray
Experience of Place, Tony Hiss
Genus Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture, Christian Norberg-Schultz
The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler
God, Dr. Buzzard and the Boltio Man, Cornelia Walker Bailey
Great Streets, Allan B. Jacobs
The Granite Garden, Urban Nature, and Human Design, Ann Whiston Spirn
The Image of the City, Kevin Lynch
Keeping Time, William Murtaugh
Landscape Architecture: An Illustrated History, William Mann
Landscape Journal: Eco-Relevatory Design, Special Issue 1998
Landscape Planning – Environmental Applications, William Marsh
Placing Nature, Culture, and Landscape Ecology, edited by Joan Nassaver
The Meaning of Gardens, edited by Mark Francis and Randolph T. Hester
A Moment on Earth, Gregg Easterbrook
A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman
A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander
The Necessity for Ruins, John Brinckerhoff Jackson
Reading the Landscape of America, May Theilgaard Watts
Rural by Design, Randall Arendt
A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold
Second Nature, Michael Pollan
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, William H. Whyte
Trees in Urban Design, Henry F. Arnold
Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature, edited by William Cronon