In Maryland, the state’s flagship university in College Park is Prince George’s County’s second-largest employer. In D.C., universities gave $248 million in aid to 85,000 students. And in Virginia, more than 100,000 residents went to college in their home state.
That’s according to a report released Tuesday by a coalition of D.C.-area universities that aims to show the breadth of higher education’s influence across the region, as institutions endure greater scrutiny by the federal government and President Donald Trump. It’s the first time a report like this has been published in over a decade.
The report was published by the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, which has 17 member institutions and four affiliates, spanning from George Mason University to Georgetown University to Prince George’s Community College.
“At a time when federal funding for education is facing the possibility of significant cuts, this report underscores the urgency of continued investment in higher education,” said Marymount University President Irma Becerra, the incoming chair of the consortium board.
Here are four takeaways from the report:
Colleges contributed more than $15B to the local economy
While other industries produce a larger percentage of the local economy, higher education institutions account for a small but significant share. In D.C., for example, three percent of the local GDP comes from just a handful of schools.
In total, local universities paid $8 billion in labor and billions in operations spending, taxes, student aid and research expenditures in fiscal 2023, according to the report. Members of the consortium also spent $600 million on capital projects, including $420 million on new buildings and other construction in D.C.
“The impact is quite staggering,” said Maurice Edington, president of the University of the District of Columbia. “We are major economic drivers of this region.”
Edington, whose university is trying to redefine its reputation as the District’s flagship school, said he hopes local officials will see the report as evidence that investment in institutions like UDC will provide a profitable return in both research and economic productivity. That, in part, is why consortium leaders commissioned the report, they said.
Institutions employ more than 100,000 workers
That includes 50,000 jobs in the District alone. Across the region, institutions in the consortium also pay $359 million in state and local taxes, according to the report.
Some local colleges already have been hit by cuts in the first month of the Trump administration. They say additional cuts could affect jobs across their institutions, from professors to administrators to custodial staff. Already in Maryland, which is facing a $3 billion budget deficit, the University System of Maryland is preparing for 400 possible job eliminations — separate from any federal cuts.
For U-Md. President Darryll Pines, the consortium report shows how universities function as anchors for local communities. His campus, for example, has 13,000 employees, serving as one of Prince George’s County’s top employers.
“The nation and general public doesn’t understand the impact that universities have in their cities, in their states and in the nation,” Pines said.
D.C.-area higher education institutions enroll some 300,000 students
Of the nearly 300,000 students, about a third are from Virginia and 85,000 go to school in the District, where the population is about 700,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Those students received $1.6 billion in financial aid in 2023.
Local presidents, higher education leaders and students say that concentration of students allows for a unique level of collaboration among the schools. In the campus protests last spring, for example, pro-Palestinian student activists at schools across the region decided to focus their collective effort on one school—George Washington University—to try to draw more attention.
“We’re institutions that have been around a long time in this region, and we are all committed to working together to give our students new opportunities to work with local businesses, research in labs and innovate,” said Howard University President Ben Vinson III, who started in his role in 2023.
More local institutions reach the top research ranks
When the latest rankings of the top research institutions were released this month, three D.C. schools were added to the list.
Along with Howard University, American and Catholic universities were named Research 1 schools, joining the University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, George Mason, George Washington, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins universities. The Washington Post reported in November that Howard was likely to become the only historically Black institution on the new list of R-1 schools.
Consortium President Andrew Flagel said the labs and equipment schools have built to support that research create a “critical pipeline of talent” in fields the region and the country needs.
The schools account for billions of dollars in investments to research everything from defense to finance, crypto to quantum and health care to education. Pines and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) recently announced a goal to make U-Md. a capital of quantum research with $1 billion in investments, including bringing in top quantum scientists and engineers from around the world and building additional facilities to conduct the research.
In Northern Virginia, state officials have led a $1 billion, two-decade effort to produce 25,000 more computer science graduates over two decades, including at George Mason and Virginia Tech.
The following schools are members of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area: American, Catholic, Gallaudet, George Mason, Georgetown, George Washington, Howard, Marymount and Trinity Washington universities; National Defense, National Intelligence, Northern Virginia Community College, Prince George’s Community College, Uniformed Services University, UDC, U-Md. and the University of Maryland Global Campus.
Johns Hopkins University, the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institution and Virginia Tech are affiliate members.
Read the original article on The Washington Post’s website.
