Georgetown University’s Capitol Campus could lose $91.4 million between fiscal years 2025 and 2028 as enrollment lags significantly behind administrators’ predictions, according to data university officials presented to the school’s Faculty Senate on Feb. 19 and released online March 20.
Interim Provost Soyica Diggs Colbert (COL ’01) and Chief Financial Officer Hari Sastry (GRD ’00) presented the data, which is based on long-term projections developed in spring 2024. The data suggests Capitol Campus operations will create a $25 million deficit in fiscal year 2025, growing to a projected $34.1 million deficit for fiscal year 2026 even if the university meets its enrollment goals.
The university also projects the Capitol Campus will lose a cumulative $91.4 million between fiscal years 2025 and 2028, before making a $4.2 million profit in fiscal year 2029. As a result, according to the presentation, the Capitol Campus is fiscally reliant on significant enrollment growth and housing revenue.
The university calculated these projections based on prior estimates and undergraduate statements of intent.
According to the projections, the main campus will generate a $19.3 million surplus in fiscal year 2025 inclusive of expenditures related to the Capitol Campus, falling to $15.8 million in fiscal year 2026. By fiscal year 2029, according to the presentation, the main campus will generate $47.3 million in surplus, including contributions from Capitol Campus growth.
The presentation projects that growth in Capitol Campus enrollment will begin to cover operating costs in fiscal year 2028.
According to a university spokesperson, the projections Colbert and Sastry presented did not account for the university’s complete budget, which remains net positive. The university also expects enrollment projections to change as students select into degree programs.
Colbert and Sastry said the university plans to raise money from growing graduate enrollments, external research funding and further increases in undergraduate tuition. The university plans to pay for the growth of the Capitol Campus specifically through increased enrollment, though planned undergraduate enrollment remains significantly lower than the university’s predictions.
The university’s financial projections expect approximately 145 students to enroll in undergraduate programs, including a joint degree between the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) and the McCourt School of Public Policy, a joint degree between the College and the Earth Commons Institute, and the Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL), a semester-long program on the Capitol Campus, for academic year 2025-2026.
The slides also suggest a graduate population of 4,515 students on the Capitol Campus in graduate programs for the 2025-26 academic year, including master’s programs in McCourt, Earth Commons, the McDonough School of Business, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Continuing Studies and a doctorate program in the School of Nursing. The following year, the university expects 360 undergraduates downtown in Capitol Campus programs, growing to 1,000 undergraduate students by 2030.
However, confirmed undergraduate enrollment significantly trails these predictions, according to Tad Howard, the CAS associate dean who advises Capitol Campus students. Howard said approximately 40 students will enroll in Capitol Campus undergraduate degree programs for Fall 2025, with additional students in the CALL.
“A lot of people are still trying to figure it out, but this will be a big increase for the Capitol Campus,” Howard told The Hoya. “For the joint degree students, in the first year that it’s possible to go, I think we’ll see 40 across the two programs.”
Howard said he expects the CALL’s enrollment to grow as well. The program has historically enrolled between 6 and 41 students in the fall semester, with 38 students currently participating in the CALL program according to data on registration in required CALL classes.
“We’re building towards about 60 to 70,” Howard said. “We’re not there yet, with the new programs added we’re seeing that proportional increase from past years at this moment.”
A faculty member familiar with the CALL program confirmed to The Hoya that the CALL continues to recruit students to meet its enrollment goals, including through presentations in departmental introductory classes.
The university’s data also projects that increased revenue from the main campus, including all five of Georgetown’s undergraduate schools, would help mitigate the costs of the new campus’s development.
Felicitas Opwis, an associate professor in the department of Arabic and Islamic studies, said the money would be better spent investing in facilities and programs on the Hilltop.
“I know the classrooms that are already there are absolutely top notch, but the majority of the undergraduates are in ICC,” Opwis told The Hoya.“The other day, we had a mouse running through the classroom. So, why not spend that money on actually making Georgetown a first-class institution?”
A university spokesperson said the Capitol Campus will allow students to engage in internship opportunities and participate in new academic programs.
“The Capitol Campus offers Hoyas experiential learning, internship and service opportunities, and cutting-edge programs in the heart of the nation’s capital,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Hoya. “Its new spaces to teach, learn, live and work are open to the entire Georgetown community. We are unveiling new programs and new spaces to spark discoveries and collective impact. And we’re just getting started.”
In light of rising costs and unmet enrollment goals, Opwis said administrators should reconsider investing further in Capitol Campus development.
“I honestly think they should seriously reconsider the project and understand that it’s okay to say, ‘this no longer works,’” Opwis said. “Our financial situation has changed. Costs have dramatically changed in the last few years from the inception of this concept.”
“At some point you’d say, ‘These are sunken costs. Let’s get out before we even sink in more for no benefit,’” Opwis added. “From my personal perspective, I would think it would be so courageous if they would say that was a mistake — let’s get out of that mistake and not throw in more money.”
This article was updated March 28, 2025, to clarify a statistic. This article was also corrected April 21 to clarify that the number of students participating in the Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL) is 38, not 17, undergraduate students.