Georgetown University · District of Columbia
Georgetown scholarships and merit aid
Jesuit private with a categorical no-merit policy and a published displacement order that DOES reduce Georgetown's own need-based scholarship after student contribution, loans, and work-study — uniquely unfavorable for students winning sizeable outside awards.
The short answer
Is Georgetown worth a closer look?
We did not find a simple published award list to show for Georgetown. Read our full reasoning before spending more time here.
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What families often miss
Georgetown's published financial aid materials describe institutional scholarships as need-based only. Outside of athletic grants-in-aid administered by Athletics, the financial aid office characterizes its scholarship pool as need-based awards. A high-stats student whose family doesn't qualify for need-based aid pays full sticker regardless of academic profile.
Georgetown's published order ends in 'University need-based Scholarship.' That means once outside awards exceed the combined self-help + expected contribution allocation, every additional dollar reduces Georgetown's own grant 1:1. The displacement risk is real and worth modeling before chasing very large outside scholarships.
Georgetown commits to meeting demonstrated need, but demonstrated need is calculated from FAFSA + CSS Profile inputs that include home equity, business income, and non-custodial parent assets. Many middle-income families calculate lower 'need' at Georgetown than they expected — net price stays high.
See costs and school data
Who this school may work for
Families with substantial demonstrated need who qualify for Georgetown's commitment to meet full need. Students looking for academic-merit discounts on Georgetown's sticker price should not target Georgetown for that purpose — the school is structurally not designed for it.
- Tuition & fees
- Housing & food
- Books
- Travel
- Personal
- Loan fees
First-year undergraduate living on/off-campus. Tuition and fees published as a single combined figure.
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Georgetown, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
| Family income | Average net price paid |
|---|---|
| $0–$30,000 | $5,064 |
| $30,001–$48,000 | $12,155 |
| $48,001–$75,000 | $18,329 |
| $75,001–$110,000 | $26,459 |
| $110,001+ | $57,403 |
| All income levels (average) | $40,815 |
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
- Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
- $68,017
- Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
- $40,815
That works out to roughly a 54% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $88,741 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
- Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
- 95%
- First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
- 97%
- Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
- $15,500 (~$164/mo on a 10-yr plan)
- Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
- $103,494
- Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
- 8%
- Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
- 18%
See other scholarships and cost examples
If your student brings another scholarship
Georgetown publishes a four-step displacement order for outside scholarships: student expected contribution, federal loan, federal work-study/campus employment, then University need-based scholarship. Unlike Brown, Georgetown WILL reduce its own grant once self-help is fully displaced.
Per Georgetown's published outside-benefits policy, an external scholarship first reduces the student's expected contribution, then federal loans, then federal work-study or campus employment, and finally the University's need-based scholarship. The fourth step matters: families who win outside awards larger than the combined self-help + expected contribution will see Georgetown's institutional grant reduced dollar-for-dollar above that threshold.
Georgetown merit aid FAQ
Does Georgetown University offer merit scholarships?
No academic-merit scholarships. Georgetown's Office of Student Financial Aid describes its scholarship pool as need-based, and the undergraduate scholarship page states 'each year, Georgetown University awards several hundred need-based scholarships to eligible undergraduates.' The only awards Georgetown publicly attributes to academic-or-athletic potential are 'athletic grants-in-aid… awarded by the Department of Athletics on the basis of athletic and academic potential.'
How does Georgetown treat outside scholarships?
Georgetown publishes a displacement order: outside aid first reduces the student's expected contribution, then federal loans, then federal work-study or campus employment, and finally University need-based scholarship. The fourth step means large outside awards can reduce Georgetown's own grant.
Does Georgetown meet 100% of demonstrated need?
Yes. Georgetown's Office of Student Financial Aid states that its scholarships 'meet 100% of eligible undergraduates' demonstrated financial need.' Note that the financial aid package includes loans and work-study — Georgetown has not gone fully loan-free like some peers.
Will my outside scholarship be a net gain at Georgetown?
For modest amounts, yes — outside awards first reduce student contribution and loans, both of which are real out-of-pocket or future-debt savings. For very large outside awards (above the combined self-help cap), the marginal dollar above that threshold reduces Georgetown's institutional grant 1:1, producing zero net gain.
What is Georgetown's financial aid mission?
Per the financial aid office's published statement: 'Our mission is to make it financially possible for every admitted applicant to attend Georgetown University.' The mechanism is need-based, however — not merit-based — so families with no calculated need don't see a discount.
See sources and other schools
How Georgetown compares
- 147 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
Georgetown is in a recognizable cluster (147 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Georgetown’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
Compare with similar schools
- Gallaudet merit aid. District of Columbia private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
- GWU merit aid. District of Columbia private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
- American merit aid. District of Columbia private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
- Catholic University merit aid. District of Columbia private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
Keep exploring Georgetown merit aid
- Georgetown scholarship stacking. Whether outside awards land as upside or quietly displace institutional aid.
- Does Georgetown displace outside scholarships?. The dollar math on a $5,000 outside award, plus peer schools that handle it differently.