Title: Financial Aid Commitment Remains Strong for FY2016
Georgetown is committing $166.6 million in financial aid for the 2014-2015 academic year with $102.8 million of that amount set aside specifically for undergraduates, while raising undergraduate tuition by 4 percent.
Georgetown will continue to make strategic investments that reflect its commitment to leading education innovation while enhancing students’ living and learning experience and ensuring a Georgetown education is available to eligible students regardless of financial need.
This coming academic year, Georgetown is committing $166.6 million in financial aid, with $102.8 million of that amount set aside specifically for undergraduates. This represents an increase of $7.5 million over the previous year. Undergraduate tuition will rise by 4 percent.
Financial aid is the largest area of investment for the university.
Efficiency and Investment
Georgetown is engaged in an ongoing cost-cutting initiative across the university to slow operational expense growth and increase efficiency, which has facilitated new investments to position the university for the future.
This includes investing in the student experience by building new residence halls, a new athletics center to serve more than 700 student-athletes, and a new student center on campus offering social space for all students.
The new Healey Family Student Center opened this fall, and construction has begun on a new residence hall, Northeast Triangle. The university has broken ground on the John R. Thompson Jr. Intercollegiate Athletics Center, the construction of which is funded solely through philanthropy.
Other investments involve new technology, faculty excellence and research.
Making Georgetown Accessible
Georgetown is one of only 23 colleges and universities – out of more than 4,700 institutions nationwide – that maintains need-blind, full-need admission and financial aid policies.
In place since the late 1970s, the policies meet the full need of eligible students –regardless of their ability to pay – through a combination of loans, grants and work-study.
“During this exciting time in higher education, we continue to make investments in our future to ensure our community has access to the facilities, technology and resources that enable them to do their very best work,” says Georgetown President John J. DeGioia. “We also remain as committed as ever to two of our most foundational policies – need-blind admissions and meet-full needfinancialaid.”
Nearly 40 percent of the undergraduate student body is expected to receive need-based scholarship aid in 2015-16.
DeGioia says it is important that these policies stay in place while the university works to meet the new challenges facing higher education.
“We want to provide the very best students with the access and the resources to attend and flourish at Georgetown, and our investment infinancialaidis essential to this commitment,” he says.
Mapping the Future
Embracing new technology is also a priority at Georgetown.
The university’s Designing the Future(s) initiative explores higher education challenges while actively experimenting with new ways to deliver a Georgetown education.
This past January, the university announced that a $2.3 million anonymous gift and $1.7 million in alumni donations will fund and accelerate progress in the next phase of the initiative to rethink higher education.
The university was an early partner with edX, the online learning initiative founded by Harvard and MIT andhas made an $8 million investmentin the GeorgetownInitiative on Technology-Enhanced Learning(ITEL). These grants support faculty innovation in the classroom, exploring how best toenhance the experience of teaching and learning at Georgetown through technology.
All investments are taking place in a cost-controlled environment to ensure that Georgetown remains a top student-centered, research university.
Tuition for FY2016
Undergraduate tuition for the academic year beginning in the fall of 2015 will be $48,048. Tuition is 2014-15 is $46,200. The total cost of undergraduate tuition, fees and average room and board for the next academic year will be $62,573.
Tuition at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will rise 3.5 percent for the next academic year, with Georgetown Law tuition rising by 4 percent. Tuition and fees at the School of Medicine will rise by 2 percent.