District of Columbia
Source: IPEDS Completions, 3-yr avg AY 2022–25 (NCES; 2024–25 provisional), bachelor’s degrees, CIP 14 + 11; China 33.2%: PRC Ministry of Education, 2022 bachelor’s graduates by discipline (NSF NCSES S&E Indicators Fig. HED-30: 32.8%, 2020); Population: Census NST-EST2025.
District of Columbia at China’s rate would graduate 3,219 engineers a year. It graduates 609.
District of Columbia produces 609 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 9,695 total, among the weakest engineering producers in the country, from 8 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 3,219. Output is shrinking (-3.9% over three years). Gap Score: 19% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 2,920 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 22% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
District of Columbia is missing 2,610 engineers a year, and its largest producer, George Washington University, graduates just 240. Digital ROTC is designed to add a community-college route into engineering here.
Where District of Columbia’s engineers are made.
8 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in District of Columbia. The top 8 account for 100% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Washington University | 240 | 9.5% |
| 2 | Howard University | 161 | 8.2% |
| 3 | The Catholic University of America | 68 | 10.3% |
| 4 | University of the District of Columbia | 50 | 16.9% |
| 5 | Georgetown University | 46 | 2.5% |
| 6 | American University | 27 | 1.4% |
| 7 | Gallaudet University | 10 | 5.0% |
| 8 | University of the Potomac-Washington DC Campus | 6 | 27.9% |
Jobs vs. degrees
District of Columbia's own labor-market projection, 2024–2034, for engineers, computer occupations and engineering technicians, against the degrees the state produces at every level.
Openings against output
Where the openings are
| Occupation | Openings / yr |
|---|---|
| Computer Occupations, All Other | 1,190 |
| Software Developers | 370 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 190 |
| Engineers, All Other | 170 |
| Information Security Analysts | 140 |
| Civil Engineers | 100 |
Coverage: degrees ÷ openings
Openings are the state labor agency’s own 10-year projection: new jobs plus replacing workers who retire or leave the field (BLS method). Not every opening goes to a new graduate, so this is a coverage measure; it does not count vacant positions. Occupations: engineers (SOC 17-2), computer occupations (SOC 15-12) and engineering technicians (SOC 17-3, the associate-degree tier), the jobs CIP 14 + 11 degrees feed; degrees here include associate degrees to match. Source: District of Columbia labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
DC's engineering jobs depended on federal agencies
The District is a city being ranked against states, and its campuses focus on law, policy and international affairs. It has no megaproject: its engineering demand came from federal agencies and contractors, the region's data centers and engineering payrolls sit in Virginia and Maryland, and about 70 percent of the people working in DC commute in from those states.
The drain.
Most technical jobs inside DC's borders have been held by people who live outside the city, and the federal employer that held them is shrinking.
Sources: D.C. Policy Center; DC Office of Revenue Analysis
Who’s covering it.
Reporters already cover this, but no one has combined it into a single number the way the Index does.
The fix, in District of Columbia.
Fund UDC's urban land-grant mission
UDC is the country's only exclusively urban land-grant university, the direct Morrill Act tie-in for the District, and its School of Engineering and Applied Sciences plus the community college are where a DC resident can reach an engineering credential without leaving town. A Digital ROTC service-for-tuition track seated there would convert the land-grant obligation into paid technical service years for residents rather than commuters.
Turn DC Futures into service years
DC Futures pays up to $8,000 a year in last-dollar tuition, plus a stipend and coaching, for residents earning a first associate or bachelor's degree in high-demand fields including IT, and has enrolled 1,509 residents at UDC, UDC Community College and Trinity Washington, but funding limits closed it to new applicants for 2026-27. Attaching a service commitment and a paid placement to that same money would turn it into a pipeline into District jobs, and DCTAG's out-of-state benefit, raised to $15,000 a year for 2026-27, could carry a return-to-DC condition.
Route Howard's federal work to residents
Howard's $18M-a-year Air Force research center and its AWS-backed AI network are the largest engineering training assets inside the District. Digital ROTC cohorts funded alongside them, with seats reserved for DC public high school graduates, would let federal and cloud money train the city's own students instead of importing engineers from Virginia and Maryland.
What Digital ROTC would fund
Digital ROTC: federal student loans that cover two years of engineering, computer science, or cybersecurity school at a community college, whether those years end in an associate degree or transfer into a bachelor’s program. The loans are forgiven in full after 24 to 36 months of service in government technology roles. In District of Columbia, 3% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.