George Washington University
Private Research University in Washington, DC. Six-year graduation rate 84%. Median 10-year earnings $90,873.
Students who entered George Washington University reach a median of $90,873 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. The six-year graduation rate of 84% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Median debt at graduation is $20,449, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree. On economic mobility, 2.2% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.23 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 84% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
At 47%, the acceptance rate makes George Washington University a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. With 27,016 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Only 19% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 26% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 680–750 | 648 (26%) |
| SAT Math | 670–750 | |
| ACT Composite | 31–34 | 272 (11%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at George Washington University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 84% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. First-year retention of 92% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. The part-time picture is harder: 73% return, against 92% full-time. At 13:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 10,848 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $46,485 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $17,440 while those at $110k+ pay $55,337. 70% of students receive grant aid, averaging $37,813 — common but not automatic. Federal borrowing reaches 33% of students.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 2,528 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $17,440 |
| $30–48k | $17,292 |
| $48–75k | $22,080 |
| $75–110k | $28,100 |
| $110k+ | $55,337 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3,596 of these 10,848 students, totalling $23,150,360 — an average of $6,438 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (District of Columbia) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)