Georgetown University announced a 4.9% increase in undergraduate tuition for the 2025-26 academic year Jan. 9, marking the fourth consecutive annual tuition increase.
Undergraduate tuition will increase to $71,136 for the new academic year from $67,824 this year. The total cost of attendance, including increases in room and board costs, will also rise by approximately 4.9% compared to last year’s rate.
The university announced a 4.5% tuition increase last year, a 4.9% increase in 2023 and a 3.5% increase in 2022. The university also pledged to increase financial aid, having previously increased its financial aid budget by 8% to $285 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Interim Provost Soyica Diggs Colbert (COL ’01) and Executive Vice President of Health Sciences Norman J. Beauchamp, Jr., who announced the increase in a Jan. 9 email to the university community, said the increase accounts for rising costs and the resources needed for academic and student programs.
“The tuition rate reflects a balanced approach to managing rising costs, as well as providing the resources needed for academic and student priorities, new programs and initiatives and our commitment to minimizing add-on fees,” Diggs Colbert and Beauchamp wrote in the email.
Miranda Yarowsky (SFS ’26) said she questions whether the university is raising tuition to match inflation or rather to fund the construction of new buildings such as the expanded Capitol Campus.
“I think the tuition increase is getting a bit out of hand, especially as someone who started in 2022,” Yarowsky told The Hoya. “Every year they come out with a new email that says they’ve increased it by a pretty solid amount, and my only thought is, ‘Is this to reflect inflation in the United States, or is this a reflection of the increasing costs it takes to build the Capitol Campus and all the buildings downtown?’”
Emily Dabre (SFS ’28) said she would support a tuition increase if the university also made an effort to improve its campus.
“It’s a little odd that they have been pushing tuition increase every single year for so long, yet there is no real improvement in the facilities,” Dabre told The Hoya. “I would support a standard tuition increase if it were actually reflected in the student facilities.”
The announcement said the university will consider adjusting student financial aid packages as necessary to accommodate the increase.
“The university will continue to consider adjustments to financial aid packages when alerted to new family circumstances and to recruit deserving students regardless of their ability to pay,” Diggs Colbert and Beauchamp wrote.
Jon Plummer (SFS ’27), a member of the Georgetown Scholars Program, a program that provides resources and support to first-generation and low-income (FGLI) students at Georgetown University, said he thinks the tuition increase will affect middle-class students the most.
“I think middle-class students are particularly affected by it because they don’t get nearly as much need-based financial aid,” Plummer told The Hoya. “And they don’t have enough money to simply shrug off a 5% increase. So I know a lot of my friends are caught in that limbo that’s really difficult, and it makes a more polarized and less economically diverse campus.”
Plummer said he thinks elite universities are taking advantage of the limited number of options available in increasing tuition each year.
“I think universities are in communication with each other,” Plummer said. “They understand that there’s not really an alternative for many students: just raise it by 5%. What are they going to do, not go to one of the elite institutions?”
Georgetown’s tuition increase is similar to recent tuition increases at its peer schools, a specific group of 10 universities that Georgetown uses to compare statistics including the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University and Columbia University. Brown increased its tuition by 4.5% for the 2024-25 academic year. UPenn increased its tuition by 3.9% for the 2024-25 academic year and Columbia’s tuition increased by 5% for the 2024-25 academic year.
While tuition at private U.S. universities averages $38,421 per year, the average cost of tuition in other parts of the world, for the most part, remains under $20,000.
Zoe Griffin (SFS ’28) said the cost of tuition may deter students from attending universities in the United States.
“For a country that I honestly want to say prides itself on its resources and promotion of higher education, the cost of tuition makes it really daunting to people who come here to receive that sort of education,” Griffin told The Hoya.
Griffin said she questions how elite U.S. institutions require regular tuition hikes while European universities are capable of functioning with low tuition costs.
“I find it hard to believe, and I know a lot of people around the world do too, is how Trinity and Oxford and Cambridge can function without these outrageous prices,” Griffin said.
Diggs Colbert and Beauchamp said the university would ensure students can afford tuition and prioritize financial aid needs.
“We are deeply committed to ensuring that all students and families can afford the cost of a Georgetown education. Georgetown plans to continue our commitment to meeting the full financial need of all eligible undergraduate students,” Diggs Colbert and Beauchamp said.
