The first Hoya Roundtable of the 2017-2018 academic year was held on Thursday, Nov. 9, in the Healey Family Student Center, and focused on the future of tuition rates and financial aid. The Hoya Roundtable program was established last year as a partnership between Georgetown University Graduate Student Government, GUSA, and the Office of the Provost, and brings Georgetown administrators and students together to discuss areas of student interest.
Provost Robert Groves opened the discussion. “This is something we consider very important as administrators and something we consider all the time,” said Groves. Groves aimed to provide students with greater understanding of “the context we work with, and a better appreciation of how the whole [tuition-rate setting] process works”.
Groves first provided a summary of the sources and expenditures of Georgetown’s income. Seventy-seven percent of Georgetown’s revenue comes from tuition. Other sources include grants, contracts, and endowment income. Over half of the university’s income is allocated towards the salaries and benefits of its staff.
Looking towards the future, the university says that it is interested in cost-reduction. The administration is “constantly looking at lease and rental space, contracting and supply costs, and investing in sustainability and conservation to help lower costs in the long run,” said Groves.
Increased investment in technology is one way the university is looking to cut costs. “Graduate programs are moving into online models; once they are set up, they are cheaper to run,” said Groves.
The university is also seeking increased access to finance. “There is an intense focus on increasing endowment using philanthropy,” Groves said. “There has been more money raised for scholarships in the past 10 years than in the previous 218-year history”.
The presentation concluded with a re-emphasis on the importance of student involvement in discussions such as these. SAC will help with setting the tuition for next year, and will write a letter addressing the cost of attending Georgetown. Groves said, “this is something we consider very important as administrators and something we consider all the time.”
Image Credit: Katherine Landau
