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Access & Affordability

Our Defining Commitment

Georgetown’s commitment to educational opportunity runs deep, building on a centuries-old Jesuit tradition of providing access to higher education. That means not only access to enrollment—but access to the complete college experience.

Our whole-institution approach to inclusive excellence is bringing talented students to campus. It’s unlocking their full potential. It’s enriching the Georgetown experience for all students. And it’s prompting the intercollegiate conversation and collaboration needed to make systemic change.

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Need-blind, meet-full-need admissions

More than 40 years ago, Georgetown became one of the first schools to admit undergraduate students on a need-blind basis and meet U.S. students’ full demonstrated financial need. The decision transformed our trajectory, making Georgetown a destination for the world’s most talented students and ensuring they get the opportunity to study here.

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Ensuring talented students can choose Georgetown

Georgetown has made an enduring commitment to increase the number of philanthropically funded undergraduate scholarships—awards that help clear students’ path to a Georgetown education and shrink their loan burdens.

Scholarships allow us to compete for the best students. And when Georgetown enrolls bright, ambitious, and passionate students with wide-ranging experiences and backgrounds, our entire community benefits. Put simply, giving to scholarship is the single-most direct way you can help secure the future of our university.

Georgetown is one of only 35 schools in the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE). COFHE colleges and universities are committed to meeting the full demonstrated financial need of admitted students. Georgetown is also one of 23 colleges and universities in the 568 Presidents Group dedicated to admitting students on a need-blind basis and supporting transparent and fair awarding of need-based financial aid.

Omoyele Okunola

“I initially chose Georgetown for its prestige, but the school also awarded me a full scholarship—removing a significant financial barrier to higher education.”

— Omoyele Okunola (C’20), vice president of Georgetown University Women of Color, winner of Georgetown’s McTighe Prize, and participant in the Baker Scholars Program and Georgetown Scholars Program

  • What’s the scope of Georgetown’s scholarship commitment?

    table that describes: $76,280 as the total undergrad cost of attendance for 2019-20. 55% of Georgetown undergrads received some form of financial aid (scholarship, grant, loan, work study) in 2018-19 academic year. Fact 3: $42,863 is the average undergrad scholarship grant award for 2018-19

    Graphic that reads: $121.2 million spent on undergrad scholarship grants in 2018-19. Figure 1 reads: 92% of scholarship grants are need-based; the remainder are athletics scholarships. Figure 2 reads: Percentage of scholarship spending funded by philanthropy: 34.8% Average COFHE school, 30.9% mediain COFHE school, 19.4% Georgetown. COFHE is the COnsortium on Financing Higher Education. It's an unincorporated, voluntary, institutionally supported organization of 35 highly selective, private librarl arts colleges and universities, all committed to meeting the full demonstrated financial need of admitted students.

  • How do scholarships fit in with the rest of a student’s financial aid package?

    Georgetown scholarships are awarded to meet 100 percent of a student’s need, after taking into account the expected family contribution, federal student loans, student earnings from part-time employment, and other outside aid.

    table describing in figure 1: Total cost of attendance: Direct expenses: full time tuition, average class fees, activity/NSO fees, average room & board + Indirect expenses: average books, personal expenses, travel, loan fees. Figure 2: Expected Family Contribution: Calculated using FAFSA and CSS Profile. Figure 3: Demonstrated Need: Georgetown meets 100% of each students demonstrated need through a financial aid package. Every aid package is a unique mix of up to four funding sources: 1. federal grants (i.e. Pell Grants) 2. Federal Loans 3. Federal work-study 4. Scholarship grants (funded by Georgetown and our generous donors)

  • What is the Georgetown Fund?

    The Georgetown Fund is the beneficiary of unrestricted gifts through Georgetown’s Annual Giving program. Georgetown directs 100 percent of Georgetown Fund gifts to 1789 Scholarships for undergraduate students.

  • Why are 1789 Scholarships so important?

    Launched in 2009, donor-funded 1789 Scholarships both fund the outright grant component of a student’s financial aid package and reduce the loan component by as much as $3,000 per year. They are awarded to students with the greatest demonstrated need, and all students receiving a 1789 Scholarship are invited to join the Georgetown Scholars Program.

    Sixty-eight percent of admitted students offered a donor-funded 1789 Scholarship ultimately enroll at Georgetown. (The university’s overall yield is 49 percent.)

    Moreover, students who receive donor-funded 1789 Scholarships graduate with approximately $7,000 in student loan debt, compared to a typical amount of $19,000 for students who accept loans in their Georgetown aid package.

  • How much money does it take to establish a named scholarship?

    Current-use gifts

    • A $100,000 current-use gift paid across four years will create a named domestic undergraduate scholarship (awarded to one student across four years).
    • A $300,000 current-use gift paid across four years will create a named international undergraduate scholarship (awarded to one student across four years).

    Endowed gifts

    • $50,000 will support Georgetown’s endowed financial aid fund, growing the foundation of our defining commitment to need-blind admissions and meet-full-need financial aid.
    • $150,000 will create a named and endowed scholarship fund that supports U.S. undergraduate students year after year.
    • $1.5 million will create a named and endowed scholarship fund that supports international undergraduate students (preference may be given to a designated region).
    • $5 million will create a named and endowed undergraduate student cohort, with one student in each of the four undergraduate classes. That means every future Georgetown graduating class would have a Hoya Family Scholar.

    “Fully funding” one student

    • $1.5 million will create an endowed scholarship fund with income that covers the equivalent of the full cost of attending Georgetown.
    • $300,000 ($75,000/year) across four years will create a current-use scholarship that covers the equivalent of the full cost of attending Georgetown.

  • How does Georgetown support International Students with financial need?

    Georgetown deeply values the contributions of its international students and is need-blind in admissions for international applicants. Georgetown currently provides approximately $2 million to fund scholarships for international students—half made possible through philanthropy—but is unable to meet the full need of all international students.

    We seek to significantly increase philanthropic support for international student scholarships. Achieving this will require the partnership of alumni and friends from around the world who are committed to making our campus community even more globally representative.

Learn About Giving to Scholarship

See why increasing the number of philanthropically funded undergraduate scholarships is a top priority—and learn how you can set in motion the exponential impact of a Georgetown education.

View Prospectus
: https://giving.georgetown.edu/what-to-support/university-wide-priorities/access-affordability/#

Supporting students to and through their Georgetown experience

The work of creating an inclusive institution goes beyond ensuring financial accessibility: we must also provide equitable opportunity to all students once they arrive at Georgetown.

Across the past 50 years, Georgetown has developed a range of campus resources and targeted programs to ensure that every student can flourish.

Center for Multicultural Equity & Access

The Center for Multicultural Equity & Access provides mentoring, multicultural programming, diversity education, and academic support to enhance the education of students historically denied access to Georgetown University because of their race or ethnicity.

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Undocumented Student Resources

Georgetown is committed to supporting undocumented students and the unique challenges they may face, and has convened a working group of representatives from a variety of offices across campus.

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LGBTQ Resource Center

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Resource Center—the first such Center of its kind at a Catholic/Jesuit institution in the country—provides education, programming, support services, and voice to Georgetown students, faculty, staff, and alumni of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

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Georgetown University’s Veterans Office

Georgetown University’s Veterans Office serves military-connected students as they apply to, attend, and advance beyond Georgetown, connecting military students with the resources they need to successfully transition from military service to classroom to career.

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Community Scholars Program

The Community Scholars Program, established in 1968, promotes social justice by enrolling and graduating a more racially, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse student body through a summer immersion session and ongoing programming.

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Georgetown Scholars Program

The Georgetown Scholars Program (GSP), founded in 2005, provides community support services that foster first-generation and low-income students’ engagement, leadership, and academic and personal growth. Today, 96.4% of GSP participants graduate.

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Regents STEM Scholars Program

The Regents STEM Scholars Program, launched in 2014, addresses the critical shortage of diverse and first-generation students who want to major in biomedical sciences by offering enhanced academic support and research opportunities.

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Prisons and Justice Initiative

The Prisons and Justice Initiative (PJI) convenes scholars, practitioners, and students to examine mass incarceration from multiple perspectives. PJI also has become a national leader in higher education for incarcerated people, professional training for returning citizens, support for families of the incarcerated, and exonerations after wrongful convictions.

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We also seek to ensure that every Hoya can access the experiential opportunities and educational innovations that make a Georgetown education so special. Historically, unpaid internships, travel, fieldwork, and other transformational learning opportunities have been an “extra” that not all students are able to pursue. Initiatives like The Baker Trust and Penner Family Experiences Fund build these into the educational journey, enhancing the learning experience—equitably.

“Georgetown established the playbook for supporting undergraduates from under-resourced high schools.”

— Harvard Magazine, November 2017
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: https://giving.georgetown.edu/what-to-support/university-wide-priorities/access-affordability/#

Taking a whole institution approach

At Georgetown, we are called to care for the whole person and develop people for others—values that place equity, diversity, inclusion, and access at the center of our identity. Through the Office of Student Equity and Inclusion, Georgetown works to increase resource-sharing, programming, and awareness of available support systems at the university, amplifying their impact.

Adanna Johnson

“Equity and inclusion is not just in one place. Every dean, every department chair, every faculty member, every member of our community, every administrator, every staff member, needs to make this a value at the center of their work—not an add-on.”

— Adanna J. Johnson, Ph.D., Georgetown Associate Vice President for Student Equity & Inclusion

Read a Q&A with Adanna Johnson on Georgetown’s whole-institution approach to equity and inclusion

Leading the national conversation

Georgetown is deeply engaged in the national conversation about cost and equity of opportunity in 21st century higher education. We recognize the need for new models—and for decades, we’ve played a crucial role in driving that change.

1968

Georgetown formed the Community Scholars Program (CSP) to support first-generation college students as they transition to higher education.

1978

Georgetown became one of the first top-tier universities to adopt need-blind admissions and meet-full-need financial aid policies.

2004

Georgetown launched the Georgetown Scholarship Program (GSP) to help scholarship students thrive at the university.

2016

Georgetown created the Regents STEM Scholars Program to address the critical shortage of underserved and first-generation college students who successfully complete degrees in the sciences.

2017

Georgetown became a founding member of the American Talent Initiative as part of an ongoing effort to make education accessible to students of all scocioeconomic backgrounds.

2018

Georgetown launched a weekly newsfeed in order to support the national conversation about the cost and equality of opportunity in 21st century higher education. In addition a member of the GSP staff is now dedicated to national outreach, visiting schools and conferences to share Georgetown’s best practices.

2019

Georgetown created the Office of Student Equity and Inclusion (OSEI), which brings together the CMEA, CSP, and GSP as part of a “whole institution” approach to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion of students. Georgetown also hosted teams from 18 colleges and universities for the first annual Summer Institute on Equity in the Academic Experience.

“Our identity as one of the world’s great universities is inextricably tied to our ability to ensure that the best and brightest students—from a broad range of backgrounds—are able to become a part of our Georgetown community.”

Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia

Supporting inclusive excellence at Georgetown

The university’s philanthropic community has committed more than $200 million across the last three fiscal years to ensure that talented students can both afford Georgetown and fully engage in their education once they’re here. This generosity is strengthening Georgetown in incalculable ways, giving every student a more expansive learning experience—and giving the world its strongest citizens and leaders.

On behalf of the future Georgetown graduates whose educational opportunity depends on your support—and on behalf of the communities they’ll enrich for a lifetime—we thank you for your consideration.

To learn more or contribute to these priorities, please contact us at scholarshipgiving@georgetown.edu.