GW’s tuition increase for this academic year was less than the average of private universities around the country, according to a study released last week by the College Board, but GW still has the highest tuition among D.C. universities.
The study reports GW’s 4.5 percent tuition increase for the 2000-01 academic year falls below the 5.2 percent national average among private universities. Tuition and fees increased to $25,040 for students entering GW this year from $23,960 last year, according to the GW Factbook.
University officials said GW’s lower-than-average tuition increase was a result of careful planning.
This is the result of hard work by faculty and students, GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg said. We’re trying very hard to hold (tuition) down and we’ve been succeeding.
Trachtenberg said that he has attempted to implement many new reforms to keep tuition down since he joined GW 12 years ago.
We are trying to introduce new practices, new technologies (and) new efficiencies, he said.
Some students said the new study does not change their opinion about high tuition costs.
Freshman Lea Nicole DiCaterino said she is not impressed.
I don’t think it makes that much of a difference because I’m still paying $36,000 to go to college, she said.
Students who live on campus pay more than $8,000 a year for room and board.
Student Association President Dave Burt said he believes the College Board study is highly irrelevant.
Although we’re getting less of an increase this year, we’ve had higher increases in the past, Burt said. It all balances out.
Burt said that for his freshman year tuition increased by 6.9 percent – a figure considerably higher than the national average, according to the College Board.
Jeffrey Penn, a spokesperson for the College Board, said last year’s national private college tuition increase average was 4.6 percent.
Not factoring in room and board, GW’s tuition is $25,040 compared to American’s $21,399 and Georgetown’s $24,168 price tag.
Nationally, the College Board reported that the average price of private college tuition is $16,332.
The complete report, based on the College Board’s Annual Survey of Colleges, is available online at www.collegeboard.com.
