TOCA Scholarship
Offered by Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association Foundation
About this scholarship
The TOCA Scholarship supports an undergraduate preparing for a communications career in the turf, ornamental, or broader green industry. The Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association Foundation has opened the application for a $2,500 scholarship to be awarded for the fall 2027 semester. Eligible students may attend a two-year or four-year program and must combine communications study with a green-industry subject such as horticulture, plant science, botany, agronomy, plant pathology, turf management, or a related discipline. The intended career path should use communications regularly for trade publications, newsletters, golf-course or landscape organizations, sod and nursery businesses, sports-turf operations, maintenance companies, or their marketing agencies. Applicants need at least a 2.5 overall GPA and a 3.0 GPA in the major area of study. The application packet asks for the typed form, a news-style writing or editing sample, a resume, a transcript or instructor-signed course-and-grade list, and an essay of no more than 500 words about green-industry interest, communications experience, and career goals. TOCA has awarded more than $100,000 through the program since 1992. The linked file is the application supplied by the sponsor, and the current newsletter confirms the March 15 deadline and fall 2027 award term.
Eligibility
- Be enrolled as an undergraduate student in a qualifying two-year or four-year program
- Major or minor in communications or a green-industry-related field
- Plan to use communications regularly in a turf, ornamental, horticulture, or related green-industry career
- Hold an overall GPA of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale
- Hold a GPA of at least 3.0 in the major area of study
- Submit the typed application, resume, transcript or instructor-signed grade list, and writing or editing sample
- Submit the required career-goals essay of no more than 500 words by March 15