GW recently announced a five-year plan to address affordability and cost for undergraduates. Central to the plan is the University’s commitment to moderate tuition increases, improve fund raising efforts for student aid, provide additional funding for institutional grants to incoming freshmen, lower the average student debt burden upon graduation, and continue its fixed-tuition/guaranteed financial aid program.

More specifically, the plan calls for the University to:

• Moderate tuition increases – No tuition increase for returning undergraduates, tuition for freshmen entering in fall 2008 will increase 3 percent;
• Quadruple fund raising for student aid to $40 million annually within 5 years;
• Provide additional funding for institutional grants to freshman – GW will provide $118 million in institutional financial assistance for undergraduates in 2008-2009 ($6 million more than last year);
• Reduce average debt burden at the time of graduation by more than 30 percent to $20,000 on average;
• Maintain GW’s fixed-tuition/guaranteed financial aid program. This program locks in the undergraduate tuition rate for up to 5 years and guarantees that need- and merit-based institutional financial assistance will not go down.

“The affordability of higher education is a pressing concern for American families,” said GW President Steven Knapp. “We are committed to moderating overall costs and to preserving the benefits and predictability that our fixed-tuition program offers students and their families. Our goal is to reduce our tuition dependency as an institution by bolstering philanthropic support, especially for student aid. This shift cannot happen overnight, but this plan is a first step.”

For more details, read the University press release.