The Washington Campus is a non-profit, non-partisan, higher education consortium. Our mission is to educate both current and future executives about the important interactions of business, government, and public policy, in order to enhance their effectiveness as organizational leaders. With a variety of intensive, experiential programs in Washington D.C., The Washington Campus is a unique organization that plays an essential role in management education.
For more information, check out our background page.
Transportation is not included in The Washington Campus tuition – you are required to get to and from The Washington Campus and various other locations on your own.
Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) is the closest and most convenient airport to fly into. Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) and Dulles International Airport (IAD) are two additional options to consider, but please be aware that they are about an hour drive from DC.
For the students who live close enough, rail service and buses are another option which terminate into Washington Union Station.
For more detailed information, check out our transportation document, updated in 2023: Transportation
Our courses are VA-eligible since they are regularly listed courses within all our consortium member universities. If your university is listed as VA-eligible, then our courses are eligible because they are considered as your university courses.
We regularly have students from our participating schools use VA/GI educational benefits for our various programs. Sometimes the costs are noted as a required course lab/activity fee, other times as a special tuition item, etc. Each school handles it somewhat differently.
It is correct that we are not directly listed on the VA/GI list, but we cannot be, because we do not give the credits. We are an extension of our member schools that administer the course here in DC, but your university actually gives the credits. So, in most, if not all, cases the expenses may be routed through the school, but we can and do regularly have many current active service members as well as veterans use their educational benefits for our courses. This all depends on either the school paying us directly by check, and the school bills the VA for what is their own listed course (though administered by us here in DC), or the school reimburses the student(s) later, and bills the VA accordingly.
Please check with your school to figure out how they handle their usual VA course expenses.
If you are a current member of the military or veteran, please register here.
On the secure website, you will find a document of required readings, which will provide you with substantial background information. Please carefully read through these documents so you arrive prepared to engage with the material and our speakers.
Please research your Members of Congress in your home and/or university district/state. You can find out who represents you in the House of Representatives and Senate.
If you are an international student who is not familiar with the structure and functionalities of the United States government (or someone who needs a refresher!) please conduct additional research to familiarize yourself with American civics. You can visit www.usa.gov to learn more about the functions of the branches of government and how the U.S. government operates, and https://www.congress.gov/legislative-process to learn about the legislative process.
Housing during your stay in Washington, D.C. is not included in your tuition and it is the participant’s responsibility to arrange accommodations for the week of their program.
There are a plethora of hotel options surrounding the Washington Campus. At this time we do not offer any group discounts with partnering hotels. Here is a list of nearby hotels.
There are several alternative lodging options in the area as well, such as home/apartment rentals.
For privacy reasons, we cannot provide the contact information of other participants for the purpose of finding people to share a room/apartment with. We would recommend contacting your university representative to ask if other students from your university are attending instead.
Check out our MBA Programs section for a sample agenda, which will give you an idea of topics and speakers that will be covered in your program.
For planning purposes, most days will begin at 8:00am-8:30am EST and end at 5:00pm-5:30pm EST. The exceptions are that on Monday there is a reception, usually from around 6:00pm-7:30pm EST, and on Friday the exam will conclude no later than 4:00pm EST. Lunch breaks are generally about one hour, with the start times varying between 11:30am-12:30pm EST, according to the specific day’s speaker/session schedule.
A draft agenda for the program is generally posted 2 weeks prior to the start of the program.
The secure website is a password protected page on The Washington Campus website that contains specific information for your program. On this site, you will find all of the information you will need regarding logistics, the syllabus, required readings, sample/draft agenda, group project information, speaker biographies, and more. Please be sure to check back periodically prior to coming to Washington as it is frequently updated to add or change information.
Participants are given access to this page in an automated confirmation email when they register to attend. If you do not receive this email in your inbox immediately following registration, please check your spam/junk folders as it often ends up there. You can login using the username and password provided in the confirmation email.
During the program, this page will be updated with a copy of the speaker PowerPoints if they have given us permission to distribute them.
Immediately following registration you will receive two automated emails: the first being a receipt of payment (if applicable), and the second being a confirmation email granting you access to the secure website. After that, we will not reach out to you again until the week before that program starts. In that email, we will remind you to complete your required readings, update you on logistical information relevant to your program, and attach the most updated versions of our agenda, participant list, and speaker biographies.
Dress Code: Dressy business casual. No jeans or flip flops. Blazer or equivalent, no tie required.
In order to meet the contact hour requirements of our programs, the schedule is rather full – a typical program day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m EST. If you would like to explore Washington, we suggest you arrive in town early or stay late after the program has finished. Here are some resources for your free time:
Personal use of electronics should be minimal during the course, including laptops, phones, and tablets. Therefore, we provide you with a notebook and pen to take notes.
Due to the extensive number of government agencies, associations, and terminology used by those who work in Washington, many have resorted to using acronyms. You’ll often hear people refer to the lingo as “inside the Beltway” which simply refers to the network of highways that create a border around the city and outside suburbs.
A handy list of government acronyms in alphabetical order can be found here. We recommend browsing through the list and familiarizing yourself with some of these as they will pop up during the programs often.
Public transportation in Washington, D.C. is abundant.
The Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) operates via the Metro subway, Metrobus and the DC Circulator bus, all accessible with a SmarTrip card. You can purchase a SmarTrip at any Metro Station or on your mobile device. For more information on how to navigate the Metro subways and Metrobus, visit www.wmata.com. For information on the DC Circulator bus, visit www.dccirculator.com.
There is ample access to taxis and ride sharing services, like Uber and Lyft. Please make sure to budget plenty of time into your schedule when using these resources, especially during rush hour, as D.C. traffic can be congested and slow.
Parking in Washington, D.C. can be expensive and time-consuming. If you would like to pursue this option regardless, there are parking garages on almost every block that will charge between $12-25 per day, but fill up quickly with regular commuters.
All of The Washington Campus sessions are strictly “off the record” to ensure maximum candidness from our speakers. This means that, as a participant, you are prohibited from using direct quotes, distributing speaker PowerPoints, and contributing specific ideas to a speaker’s name or organization unless otherwise given permission by the speaker. If you have any questions about this during the program, please ask your faculty director and/or speaker for clarification.
With that being said, we love interacting on social media! The Washington Campus can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. We typically post highlights throughout the week so we encourage you to post your experiences as well. We want to hear from you!
We will have your exam and projects graded 3-4 weeks following the end of the program. We will send those raw grades to your university representative and they will be responsible for granting the grade/credits to you.
Each university assigns the grades and/or grants the credits differently – i.e. pass/fail, letter grade, numeric grade, etc. – so please reach out to them if you have questions.
LinkedIn is the best way to stay connected with us and your program classmates after the program. We have a LinkedIn page that we encourage you to follow to continue the conversation.
