The university board of directors last week approved its five-year financial plan, which includes a $2 million increase in financial aid and a 3.5 percent rise in undergraduate tuition rates for the 2012-2013 academic year.
Last year undergraduate tuition was $40,920. The tuition will be $42,360 beginning this fall.
“It was only a few years ago that Georgetown was the third most expensive undergraduate education in the country,” said Provost James J. O’Donnell. “After working to control our costs, the university is now ranked 27. This financial plan will guide the Main Campus to keep our total cost growth as low as possible.”
Room and board charges will go up by 2 percent in 2012-2013. The total cost of undergraduate tuition, fees and average room and board for the next academic year will be $55,640 – a 3.2 percent increase over the 2011-12 cost of $53,910.
The university is balancing tuition growth with increases in financial need and a commitment to cost containment, O’Donnell said.
Financial Aid Increase
The board also approved a $1.9 million increase in financial aid for the 2012-13 academic year. The plan raises that amount to $4.7 million in 2013-2014 and $6.5 million in 2015-2016.
“Recognizing that our work to contain costs must be accompanied by other kinds of efforts, we are deepening our commitment to increasing scholarships,” President John J. DeGioia said in a recent speech to faculty. “This commitment will ensure that we can maintain our need-blind, full-need admissions policy – a policy that significantly strengthens the competitiveness of our undergraduate program.”
Financial aid is a top priority at the university. More than 40 percent of the university’s student body – or 2,800 undergraduates a year –receives need-based scholarships. Georgetown admits eligible students regardless of their ability to pay, and meets their full need through a combination of loans, grants and work-study.
The university also recently launched a $1.5 billion capital campaign, with a goal of dedicating one-third of the total amount raised – $500 million –to financial aid. In addition, Georgetown is raising funds through its 1789 Scholarship Imperative to grow endowment support for student scholarships.
New Science Building
In setting tuition rates, the university is anticipating an increase in operating costs when its new science center, Regents Hall, opens in the fall of this year.
“As with every year, we are continuing to balance the cost of high-quality academic programs and services with the need to limit tuition growth,” O’Donnell said. “In our new science building, our students will have access to a state-of-the-art facility. We worked hard to ensure the building was funded through the generosity of our donors, thus reducing the costs this imposes on our students through tuition.”
The board of directors also approved 2012-2013 tuition increases for graduate programs, including those in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as well as the schools of business, law and medicine.