On Feb. 5, Director of Community Engagement and Experiential Learning (CEEL) Leigh Tait sent an email to high school students informing them that the application to join the 2024 GDS Policy Institute summer program was open. For the last nine years, the program has been free of cost, but this year, participating students will have to pay a $500 fee.
The GDS Policy Institute is a four-week summer program where students learn about social justice issues while engaging with advocates, policymakers and other experts at the center of those issues. 2024 will be the tenth year of the Policy Institute.
The program features five tracks in specific areas of policy. New tracks this year focus on equity in education and artificial intelligence. They will accompany three other tracks about the environment, bodily autonomy and socio-economic issues in the D.C. area. Two tracks, focusing on reparations and gun control, are not running this year.
“This conversation has been happening for a long time,” Tait said, referring to the new cost. She has been the director of the Policy Institute for three years.
At the institute’s inception in 2014, an anonymous family donated a fixed amount of money so it could operate. “The donation lasted a certain amount of time, and now it’s no longer there, ” Tait said. She declined to specify the size of the donation.
While the endowment ran out of money before 2024, GDS, through the CEEL office budget, continued to subsidize the full cost of the program through 2023. “As things have gotten more expensive, the CEEL office can no longer cover the full cost,” Tait said.
Tait explained that part of the reason for the new cost was the added travel component, where for example students can travel to Texas to learn about reproductive justice, or California to learn about artificial intelligence. She also said that students viewed the travel component as “the highlight of the experience.”
“There used to be two tracks, and now there are five. It’s much bigger,” Tait said. She also cited inflation and sustainability of the program as reasons for the new cost.
Chris Oster, who serves as GDS’ Environmental Stewardship and Campus Commuting Manager, will be leading the Environmental Justice track of the Policy Institute for a fifth year in 2024. Like Tait, Oster cited an increase in travel outside the D.C. area as the reason for the new cost. “It has evolved a lot from what it used to be,” Oster said. “We are trying to be cognizant of those who can’t afford it,” he added.
Junior Gideon Siff applied for the AI track, in part because it is new this year. Siff said he “didn’t have an issue” with the new cost since Policy Institute participants get to go on trips.
Tait explained that although GDS is continuing to fund a majority of the institute, some costs need to be subsidized by families. “We always want to make sure that the institute is accessible,” she said. Financial assistance is available regardless of whether students receive it during the school year or not, she added.
Sophomore Dylan Li, who participated in the 2023 Policy Institute, said that he enjoyed it. He chose not to participate again this year, but the new cost did not impact his decision.
Tait hoped that the new cost would not decrease the number of applicants. “If you want to do it, money will not be a barrier. We want to make sure everybody can participate,” she said.