Last month, Interim President Robert Groves announced opportunities for Georgetown students and alumni to continue their education in light of recent federal job cuts. The Voice spoke to students on how these changes are impacting their education and career plans.
Georgetown will offer current seniors, members of the classes of 2023 and 2024, and current or recently separated federal employees a 10% scholarship on base tuition for many master’s programs next year, waivers for the master’s programs’ application fees, and application deadline flexibility.
“This is nothing but good news for me,” Jack Gigante (CAS ’25, GSAS ’26), who is enrolled in Georgetown’s accelerated master’s program in Democracy and Governance, said. Gigante has already been taking coursework toward his master’s this year, but in the 2025-2026 school year, he’ll receive the 10% discount on tuition.
Though already enrolled in a master’s program, Gigante said the discount would have influenced his decision-making, as the opportunity to earn a master’s from a university like Georgetown brings promise in job hunts.
“Looking towards this summer is sort of looking down the barrel of unemployment,” Gigante said. “The ability to be able to go into a prestigious and effective program like the ones Georgetown offers is huge, and definitely would have affected my decisions.”
Georgetown’s announcement follows the Trump administration’s layoffs of thousands of federal workers across a number of departments. So far, over 50,000 employees have been laid off, including employees of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Education, as well as more planned reductions of over 140,000 workers.
“Over the past few weeks, the lives of thousands of public servants have been disrupted with reductions in staff at federal agencies. Facing this, deans and program leaders have asked themselves, ‘How should we live Georgetown’s mission at this moment?’” Groves wrote in a March 17 message announcing the changes. “Our university response: we expand opportunities for education.”
With limited federal job opportunities, grad school and Georgetown’s tuition benefit may provide an alternate path.
“If we’re talking about moving your career forward, I think it’s a better use of your time, especially with the tuition discount that makes it more affordable,” Peyton Austin (SFS ’26), who lost internships with USAID and the State Department following federal hiring freezes, said. “Obviously that’s leaving aside the fact that you still have to get into Georgetown grad school.”
As uncertainty continues around federal workforce opportunities, it remains to be seen if Georgetown will expand the tuition benefits beyond those applying for the 2025-2026 academic year.
“I do foresee the federal hiring freezes continuing,” Austin said. He added that he’d consider applying to a graduate program next year if instability in the public sector continues. “If it’s truly catastrophic and I can’t get a job, getting a master’s degree is better than going back to Colorado.”
Students reconsidering plans for the future—regardless of if the plans include Georgetown’s graduate programs—said they appreciated the university’s efforts to assist.
“I really do appreciate what they’ve done with the tuition cut, because I think that’s actionable, they’re taking a genuine hit to do something like that,” Austin said. “They’re putting their money where their mouth is, to a certain extent.”
Gigante said he admires Georgetown’s efforts to support students looking toward a struggling workforce.
“What amazes me is the fact that this was something that was unprompted, this wasn’t a demand from GUSA or the graduate student association,” Gigante said. “Georgetown simply looked at the hiring freeze, looked at the way the sector was working right now, and said, ‘What can we do to help students?’ And then they did something. That’s something that should be lauded.”
In addition to the master’s tuition discount, Georgetown will offer eligible former federal workers a 30% discount on several professional certificate programs. Georgetown’s School for Continuing Studies will provide these certificates under its new “Georgetown Pathways: Empowering Career Transitions” initiative.
Austin said that for students in fields where it’s not common to pursue a certificate, he isn’t sure how helpful this opportunity is.
“There’s not a lot of ways I can think of that you can get a certificate in the humanities,” Austin said. “I’d have to look and see what they are actually gonna try and teach someone like me that I couldn’t get just by going and getting a master’s in the first place.”
Through the discounts, Georgetown aims to offer an abundance of educational opportunities to those in the foreign service and government fields the Hilltop is known for.
“We recognize the incomparable value of the work that many in our community have committed their careers to, and we will continue to offer support as we navigate these changes together,” Groves wrote in his announcement.
Rising graduate students are hopeful that further connections and support through pursuing a master’s degree at Georgetown will assist them in future job hunts.
“The programs are very good at helping you secure a job,” Gigante said. “My program director, the assistant director, will actually email us job opportunities that they are connected with.”
Since Georgetown announced its master’s tuition discount, some other universities have revealed similar opportunities. For example, on March 31, George Washington University’s School of Business announced a 20% tuition discount for federal workers impacted by the federal job cuts.
Though much remains up-in-the-air about federal career opportunities, students believe Georgetown is taking a step in the right direction in its support of those in the public sector.
“It’s such a bigger issue than Georgetown as a university,” Austin said. “I think they’ve done about as well as they could.”
