Regarding Travis’s post on George Washington University’s exorbitant cost, I agree that it’s perplexing why anyone anywhere would pay anything close to $50,000 each year for college when there are plenty of good reasonably-priced state schools. But in reality financial aid makes GW cheaper than other DC schools for a majority of its students. GW’s total annual cost is over $50,000, but its average financial aid package is $34,000—two-thirds of which comes in the form of a grant. Compare that with American University where the total cost is $43,000 but the average financial aid package is $22,000—only half of which is a grant.
GW’s financial aid also stacks up well against Georgetown ($48,000 total cost with an average financial aid package of $27,000) and Catholic University ($40,000 total cost with $19,000 in average aid).
Furthermore, GW has a fixed tuition rate, which means that its tuition of $39,000 per year will be locked in for all four years, while many schools raise tuition every year about 5%. If Georgetown, which raised its tuition this year by 6% year to $36,000, continues to make similar increases, GW’s tuition will actually be slightly cheaper than Georgetown’s over 4 years.
GW’s costliness is nonetheless a public relations disaster. This is the most well-known GW factoid, and it’s the first thing I’m asked about when I tell someone I went to GW. It’s not exactly easy to explain such fascinating financial aid and fixed tuition programs to a prospective employer or, say, some American University co-eds at a bar in Adams Morgan without boring them to death or coming across as a petulant, needy and/or nerdy financial aid recipient.
And I certainly don’t mean to come across as a GW-apparatchik right now. As a student, I often railed against the frivolous spending that GW engages in to lure enough wealthy students to cover the bottom line. In my view, it would make much more sense to cut extravagances, so alumni would see that their donations wouldn’t be wasted on housecleaning for freshman or gaudy laser light shows at freshman orientation.