State profile · DC
District of Columbia
District of Columbia has 17 degree-granting institutions in this data. Between them they award 1,372 research doctorates and 12,137 master’s degrees over the window, and take $454.1m in federal research and development money.
This page counts every institution in the state, including the ones that award no graduate degree at all. Leaving those out would make a state look like its flagship.
institutions in the state
10 award a research doctorate. 1 enrol no graduate students at all.
of research doctorates go to non-residents
438 of 1,372. National figure: 38.9%.
of graduate enrolment is non-resident
6,619 of 42,708 graduate students.
federal research and development money
Across 7 institutions. $276.1m in total federal obligations.
Where District of Columbia sits
The non-resident share of research doctorates, against the same figure for the country. That is 7.0 points below the national figure of 38.9%. The pattern this site measures nationally is weaker here, not stronger.
District of Columbia ranks 39 of 52 states on that share, and 33 of 56 on the number of research doctorates it awards. Rank 1 is the highest. Only states that award doctorates are ranked.
Undergraduate and graduate, side by side
The same institutions at two levels. Undergraduate is the remainder once graduate enrolment is taken out of the total, and both levels carry their own non-resident count. In District of Columbia the graduate share is 9.3 points higher than the undergraduate share.
Click any column heading to sort. Click it again to reverse. The panel under the table narrows what is shown — everything is shown until you ask for less.
| Institution | Undergraduates | Non-res | Share | Graduates | Non-res | Share | State funding | Federal R&D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Washington University | 11,387 | 937 | 8.2% | 14,181 | 2,731 | 19.3% | — | $381.6m |
| Georgetown University | 7,968 | 1,127 | 14.1% | 12,424 | 2,350 | 18.9% | — | $376.6m |
| Howard University | 10,190 | 474 | 4.7% | 3,226 | 202 | 6.3% | — | $101.8m |
| American University | 7,817 | 630 | 8.1% | 5,202 | 669 | 12.9% | — | $78.4m |
| Strayer University-Global Region | 10,093 | 2 | 0.0% | 2,689 | 4 | 0.1% | — | — |
| The Catholic University of America | 3,139 | 111 | 3.5% | 2,032 | 393 | 19.3% | — | $57.7m |
| University of the District of Columbia | 3,297 | 111 | 3.4% | 558 | 39 | 7.0% | $101.5m | $9.4m |
| Trinity Washington University | 1,604 | 16 | 1.0% | 261 | 3 | 1.1% | — | — |
| Gallaudet University | 919 | 42 | 4.6% | 445 | 23 | 5.2% | — | $9.5m |
| The Chicago School at Washington DC | 0 | 0 | — | 615 | 24 | 3.9% | — | — |
| University of the Potomac-Washington DC Campus | 266 | 59 | 22.2% | 327 | 135 | 41.3% | — | — |
| Wesley Theological Seminary | 0 | 0 | — | 450 | 31 | 6.9% | — | — |
| Strayer University-District of Columbia | 310 | 0 | 0.0% | 43 | 0 | 0.0% | — | — |
| Institute of World Politics | 0 | 0 | — | 119 | 0 | 0.0% | — | — |
| Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies | 0 | 0 | — | 73 | 4 | 5.5% | — | — |
| Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family | 0 | 0 | — | 63 | 11 | 17.5% | — | — |
| Windsor University | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
The two levels diverge most at University of the Potomac-Washington DC Campus: 22.2% of its 266 undergraduates and 41.3% of its 327 graduate students. These are different admissions systems with different applicant pools, different money and different reasons to say yes, and a single state figure hides both.
3,509 of 56,990 undergraduates and 6,619 of 42,708 graduate students. IPEDS reports no graduate enrolment for 1 of these institutions; their rows show a dash rather than a zero, because the file not carrying a number is not the same as the number being none.
What the state figure is an average of
The largest graduate enrolments in District of Columbia, each with its own non-resident share. Nothing here is excluded from the figures above. The point is to show what they are made of.
| Institution | Graduate students | Share of the state | Non-resident |
|---|---|---|---|
| George Washington University | 14,181 | 33.2% | 19.3% |
| Georgetown University | 12,424 | 29.1% | 18.9% |
| American University | 5,202 | 12.2% | 12.9% |
| Howard University | 3,226 | 7.6% | 6.3% |
| Strayer University-Global Region | 2,689 | 6.3% | 0.1% |
| The Catholic University of America | 2,032 | 4.8% | 19.3% |
One institution is moving this figure
George Washington University holds 33.2% of the graduate enrolment in District of Columbia and is 19.3% non-resident. Take it out and the rest of the state is 13.6%, against 15.5% with it in. A state average is not a description of its universities when one of them is most of the state.
Practical training, and the other student visas
A student visa does not end at graduation. Optional Practical Training lets a graduate work on the same visa, and a STEM degree adds a further twenty-four months. It applies at both levels, so the undergraduate share above is not the end of the story.
No institution in District of Columbia appears in SEVP’s published lists, which cover the top 100 and top 200 schools for OPT and STEM OPT. There is therefore no published practical training figure for this state. That is a fact about what the agency releases, not a statement that no one here is on OPT.
J-1 physicians. District of Columbia is not in the published top twelve states for J-1 physicians in graduate medical education, which is the only state breakdown ECFMG publishes. That is an absence from a short list, not a zero.
In-state against out-of-state
Public four-year institutions, FY2024. Every foreign student pays the out-of-state rate, so this is the price attached to the non-resident column everywhere else on this page.
An out-of-state student in District of Columbia is worth 1.86× an in-state one to the institution. They are 20.2% of the students and 34.7% of the tuition revenue.
| Measure | In-state | Out-of-state |
|---|---|---|
| Share of students (FTE) | 70.5% | 20.2% |
| Net tuition and fees collected per student | $4,838 | $8,986 |
| Share of tuition revenue | 65.3% | 34.7% |
Out-of-state is not the same as foreign. SHEEO counts international students and domestic students from other states in one column. This shows what a non-resident pays, never how many of them are foreign. Figures are net tuition and fee revenue per full-time-equivalent student — what the institution actually collected after its own aid, not the published price. Public four-year institutions only; medical FTE excluded.
Every institution
Largest first by total enrolment. A dash means the institution awards none of that degree, or that no federal research money was matched to it.
| Institution | City | Control | Enrolled | Graduate | Master’s | Non-res | Doctorates | Non-res | Federal R&D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Washington University | Washington | private nonprofit | 25,568 | 14,181 | 5,969 | 2,158 | 1,203 | 333 | $381.6m |
| Georgetown University | Washington | private nonprofit | 20,392 | 12,424 | 4,258 | 1,202 | 906 | 231 | $376.6m |
| Howard University | Washington | private nonprofit | 13,416 | 3,226 | 116 | 17 | 483 | 102 | $101.8m |
| American University | Washington | private nonprofit | 13,019 | 5,202 | 666 | 208 | 343 | 68 | $78.4m |
| Strayer University-Global Region | Washington | private for-profit | 12,782 | 2,689 | 198 | 1 | — | — | — |
| The Catholic University of America | Washington | private nonprofit | 5,171 | 2,032 | 506 | 222 | 458 | 122 | $57.7m |
| University of the District of Columbia | Washington | public | 3,855 | 558 | 83 | 38 | 17 | 0 | $9.4m |
| Trinity Washington University | Washington | private nonprofit | 1,865 | 261 | 23 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Gallaudet University | Washington | private nonprofit | 1,364 | 445 | 47 | 4 | 61 | 2 | $9.5m |
| The Chicago School at Washington DC | Washington | private nonprofit | 615 | 615 | 248 | 7 | 91 | 7 | — |
| University of the Potomac-Washington DC Campus | Washington | private for-profit | 593 | 327 | — | — | 11 | 1 | — |
| Wesley Theological Seminary | Washington | private nonprofit | 450 | 450 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Strayer University-District of Columbia | Washington | private for-profit | 353 | 43 | 23 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Institute of World Politics | Washington | private nonprofit | 119 | 119 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies | Washington | private nonprofit | 73 | 73 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family | Washington | private nonprofit | 63 | 63 | — | — | 17 | 5 | — |
| Windsor University | Washington | private for-profit | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Degrees are pooled over 2021–2025. Enrolment and federal money are the most recent year in the file. “Non-res” means a student here on a temporary visa, almost always F-1 or J-1. A green card holder is not counted in it.
How few institutions this is
Of the 17 institutions in District of Columbia, 10 award a research doctorate at all, and the largest two award 58.7% of them. A state’s graduate pipeline is a much smaller thing than its list of colleges.
| Institution | Research doctorates | Non-resident | Share | Share of the state’s doctorates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Washington University | 1,203 | 333 | 27.7% | 33.5% |
| Georgetown University | 906 | 231 | 25.5% | 25.2% |
| Howard University | 483 | 102 | 21.1% | 13.5% |
| The Catholic University of America | 458 | 122 | 26.6% | 12.8% |
| American University | 343 | 68 | 19.8% | 9.6% |
| The Chicago School at Washington DC | 91 | 7 | 7.7% | 2.5% |
| Gallaudet University | 61 | 2 | 3.3% | 1.7% |
| University of the District of Columbia | 17 | 0 | 0.0% | 0.5% |
| Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family | 17 | 5 | 29.4% | 0.5% |
| University of the Potomac-Washington DC Campus | 11 | 1 | 9.1% | 0.3% |
The foreign share of graduate students, where the survey reaches
The NSF Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates asks institutions directly, and it covers 7 of the 17 institutions in District of Columbia. It is a different measure from the degree counts above: enrolled students rather than degrees awarded.
| Institution | Doctoral students foreign | Master’s students foreign |
|---|---|---|
| The Catholic University of America | 55.8% | 72.3% |
| Georgetown University | 40.3% | 35.3% |
| American University | 33.0% | 21.9% |
| Howard University | 32.0% | 11.5% |
| George Washington University | 26.1% | 42.7% |
| University of the District of Columbia | 6.7% | 15.3% |
| Gallaudet University | 5.9% | 0.0% |
The Catholic University of America
The highest foreign share of doctoral students in the state, at 55.8%. It is not the largest institution here and it is not the one with the most federal money. Size and share are different questions, and a state page that ranked only by size would not show this.
What is not published for a state this size
Two of the measures this site uses elsewhere do not exist at this scale, and the reason is the same in both cases: the agency publishes a ranked extract rather than the whole file.
- Practical training is not published here. SEVP releases the top 100 and top 200 schools for OPT and STEM OPT, not every school. An institution outside those lists has no published figure at all. Its absence is a fact about the list, not about the institution, and it must never be read as a zero.
- Student visa counts are not published by state. DHS reports SEVIS records nationally and names a few states per region in its commentary. For most states it publishes a percentage change and no count, so the number of foreign students physically in a state cannot be read off the federal release.
- Enrolment is the measure that does exist. IPEDS asks every institution directly, which is why this page is built from it. It counts students enrolled, not visas issued, and the two are different questions.
Method and limits
- Non-resident means here on a temporary visa. IPEDS defines it as a person “who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely.” A green card holder is therefore never counted here. Neither is a refugee or an asylee. Those students are reported in the race and ethnicity categories alongside citizens. For students the category is overwhelmingly F-1 and J-1.
- It is not ethnicity and not country of origin. A US-born citizen of any background is never non-resident. The status is recorded when the student enrols, for the enrolment figures, and when the degree is awarded, for the degree counts. These files cannot be split any other way.
- Degrees are pooled over 2021–2025, because a single year at a small institution moves on one student.
- Enrolment and awards are different measures and will not agree. One counts people on a given day; the other counts degrees conferred over five years.
- Federal money is matched to a campus, and a system that reports centrally can carry money its branches spend.
- This page shows composition, not displacement. It records who received the degrees. It does not show that anyone was kept out, and nothing here should be read that way.
Built by scripts/build_state_pages.py from
institution_profiles.json,
state_funding_and_enrolment.json
and university_distribution.json.
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