Landscape Architecture Accreditation

• Provide an environment to support scholarship and the scholarship of teaching and learning as central to the program’s activities.
• Convey the complexity of human and natural landscapes and advocate human and land relationships that are responsive to natural processes, supportive of human needs, and result in a unique sense of place that are the product of this relationship.
• Raise the visibility, understanding, and perceived value of landscape architecture within the school, college, and university as well as with the public, allied professions and related disciplines.
• Lead in expanding the limits of the profession and discipline through scholarship.
• Foster a collegial community wherein individuals are encouraged to share accomplishments and constructively question ideas so that they may develop and flourish to benefit the whole.

• Research Hypothesis. Students will be able to identify design research questions relevant to landscape architecture practice.
• Graphical Communication. Students will be able to demonstrate use of graphical communications to convey conceptual site designs and intellectual content.
• Communicating Historical and Contemporary Aspects of the Built Environment. Students will be able to use written communication to present historical and contemporary understandings of the built environment. (This SLO specifically employs written communication as a tool to demonstrate intellectual competency in presenting historical and contemporary issues related to the built environment.)
• Cultural and Social Values. Students will be able to demonstrate ability to interpret cultural and social values toward land and nature as manifested in existing and historical landscapes.
• Ecological Principles. Students will demonstrate an understanding of ecological principles as they apply to a development of a conceptual site design. (the mandatory written and oral presentations of their work is a demonstration of their understanding).

• Analytical ability. Students will be able to identify and use appropriate analytical techniques to gain insights and a better understanding of the context of a landscape architecture project (i.e., political, social, cultural and natural sciences).
• Design ability (a) Creativity. Students will be able to employ creative approach(es) to explore the limits of a design project.
• Design ability (b) Synthesis and Functionality. Students will be able to identify, define and solve design and planning problems relevant to a design problem.
• Design ability (c) Place-making. Students will be able to articulate objects and space to create a desired “sense of place”.
• Communication ability. Students will be able to identify salient information to be communicated and select and implement appropriate purposeful written, graphic and oral communication means and media for multiple audiences and venues.
• Technical ability. Students will be able identify, follow and apply accepted landscape engineering standards in their work.

Instate first year BLA student: $40,624
Out of state first year BLA student: $62,014

Instate MLA student: $46,286
Out of state MLA student: $63,816

Undergraduate tuition and fees – $16,526 (in-state), $38,977 (out-of-state)

Masters tuition and fees – $19,218 (in-state), $36,212 (out-of-state)

School of Design fee – $750/semester

Estimated room and board (on-campus/ off-campus) – $17,442/ $12,578

Estimated books and supplies – $3,000

Estimated other expenses – $4,130

Estimated program field trips – $400

Estimated summer education abroad program, includes:
Undergraduate - required: $13,426 (in-state), $17,945 (out-of-state) 6CR tuition and program fees
Graduate - optional: $12,882 (in-state), $15,218 (out-of-state) 3CR tuition and program fees

Current detailed cost breakdowns for tuition and fees are available at https://www.bursar.vt.edu/tuition-fee-rates/tuition-fees.html

BLA student enrollment – 68
56% female, 25% minority

MLA Enrollment – 10
60% female, 0% minority

Bachelor of Landscape Architecture:
2025 Graduates: 13
100% graduated within 6 years
54% of students who initially enrolled in the 2025 graduating year BLA cohort received a BLA degree

Master of Landscape Architecture:
2024/25 Graduates: 4
100% graduated within 3 years (Students entering with advanced placement typically finish in 2 or 2.5 years)
80% of students who initially enrolled in the 2025 graduating year MLA cohort received a MLA degree

Professional landscape architecture licensure is required in all 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and the Canadian Provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. Licensure is intended to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Landscape architects apply their skills and knowledge to plan, design, document, and supervise the development of projects that protect and conserve resources and safeguard communities from hazards.

License requirements for each state can be found on the ASLA website (access individual state details here) and through a ASLA fact sheet on licensure. Graduates of the BLA and MLA programs are eligible to take the Landscape Architecture Registration Exam (LARE). While the BLA and MLA degrees provide graduates with educational credits to sit for the national licensure exam, US degree programs do not grant licensure.