In the upcoming academic year, students at George Washington University will do more than sing “Hail to the Buff and Blue,” the school’s official fight song.
They will also feel the hail of higher costs at the D.C.-area private university, to the tune of $98,165 for many returning students when housing, food, books and fees are included.
Already among the region’s most expensive universities, George Washington officials recently announced a three percent increase in tuition for its undergraduates, to $72,000 per year.
For first-year or transfer students in the 2026-27 academic year, that will mean a price tag of about $95,155 when housing and other costs are added.
Returning students like Silas Freeling, a junior majoring in engineering, will see the cost rise a few thousand dollars above that amount, though many will be able to soften the blow with financial aid. The university’s estimated cost-of-attendance has a higher figure for housing and food for students in later years.
On Wednesday, Freeling, a 21-year old engineering student, said it was crazy that tuition is going up again. Freeling, who is from California and lives on campus, has financial aid that covers around $60,000 of his tuition, and student loans cover the rest.
Freeling said he hadn’t talked yet with his parents about the latest increase.
“Will it be $110,000 in five or 10 years?” he said. “I’m just glad that I have one more year of paying this insane tuition. It’s been a lot for a while.”
University spokesperson Julia Garbitt said GWU is committed to providing a world-class educational experience while maintaining accessibility and affordability. “The university is proud to attract and retain talented students who will make significant contributions at and beyond our university,” Garbitt said.
According to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, 70 percent of GWU undergraduate students receive financial aid, with the average amount of grants or scholarship aid at $37,813.
Robert Kelchen, who leads the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, said that the three percent increase at GWU comes close to keeping up with rising operating costs, adding that the biggest drivers of those costs for a university are people and facilities.
In-state tuition and housing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is estimated at $36,710 per year, while the out-of-state estimate is $56,170. Kelchen said tuition at that university has only increased once over the past four or five years since the state provides money through appropriations.
“GWU is a bit unusual in that their goal is to meet financial needs for all American students,” Kelchen said. “Even if that sticker price for tuition price is going up, not a lot of students are paying it.”
Still, he said, “that listed price is something that not many people pay, but it gets public perception and it can scare people away.”
GWU has often rankedamong the most expensive four-year colleges in the country and in the D.C. area.
For the 2026-27 academic year, full-time students at American University will pay $33,428 in tuition each semester. By comparison, students living on campus paid $60,270 in tuition for the entire 2025-26 academic year.
Over at Georgetown University, for the current academic year, full-time tuition and fees totals $71,338 for first-year students, with an average housing expense of $13,354. The amount is the same for transfer and continuing undergraduate students, but with a higher average housing expense of $14,126. Georgetown announcedin February that tuition for the 2026-27 academic year for undergraduates would be $74,520, an increase of 4.75 percent.
Full-time undergraduates at Gallaudet University, a private university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, pay $9,612 per semester for tuition for the 2026-27 academic year. The price is higher for international students.
At historically Black college Howard University, a spokeswoman for its Student Financial Services said the current estimated tuition is $18,998 per semester for full-time students. Howard does not currently have a cost-of-attendance estimate for the 2026-27 academic year.
The District has taken recentsteps to provide more funding for college-bound students from the city, such as recently raising the maximum award for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant from $10,000 to $15,000 and the lifetime cap from $50,000 to $75,000 to help families keep pace with inflation and rising tuition. It is the program’s first increase since it began 25 years ago.
For the current academic year, tuition for full-time GWU undergraduate students was $69,780, a 3.5 percent increase from $67,420 in 2024-25.
For incoming first-year students, the university set a base rate for housing and dining of $18,160 for the upcoming school year, a $560 increase from the previous year. Freshmen and sophomores at GWU are required to live on campus.
Garbitt said the university is committed to providing clear, predictable financial aid packages to support undergraduate students from their first year through graduation. Citing the saleof its Virginia Science and Technology Campus, the GW Board of Trustees passed a resolution directing that a significant portion of the proceeds be used to establish a new endowment to advance some university priorities, including expanding financial aid, Garbitt said.
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