While Jackie was in Europe, Black Jack underwent a cataract operation. When Jackie returned to New York her father was depressed. He wanted her to live with him and promised to get her a job on Wall Street after she graduated. In the past, Jackie would have been more mindful of her father's needs, but now that she was a mature woman she had her own interests and future to look after.

Although she promised to consider his offer, Jackie had no desire to finish college at Vassar. After living with the de Rentys in the heart of Paris, the thought of going back to an all-girls dorm in Poughkeepsie was unbearable.

Janet had her own reasons for not wanting Jackie to go back to Vassar. She was still competitive with Jack over their children's time, attention, and affection. Janet didn't like the idea of Jackie moving in with her ex-husband, and she liked the idea of her getting a job on Wall Street even less because she feared it would give Jack that much more influence over Jackie. So Janet and Hughdie suggested Jackie live at Merrywood and finish her degree at George Washington University. Jackie agreed.

George Washington University

Located four blocks from the White House, George Washington University was the top-ranked college in Washington, known for its social sciences and international affairs programs. Jackie sent in her application late, but Janet was able to persuade the admissions dean to accept the transfer for her final two semesters of college. Jackie switched her major to French literature.

In the classes students were allowed to write assignments in English, but Jackie insisted on writing all her assignments in French. She also took journalism and creative writing classes. A story she wrote for Muriel McClanahan's advanced composition class, titled “In Florence,” was read during a broadcasted ceremony held at the university.

Jackie made an impression on her classmates, who remember her as being striking and dignified. Her aloofness kept most of her peers from approaching. Most of the friends she made were slightly older, and Jackie attended their Georgetown dinner parties. Her love life remained stalled, prompting one friend, Charles Bartlett, to pester Jackie about coming over for dinner so he could introduce her to a young man he was sure she would find interesting. Jackie politely put him off.

In later years, very little evidence of her time at George Washington University remained. All of her student documentation mysteriously disappeared around the time John Kennedy was named the Democratic nominee for president. She never attended any class reunions or spoke much of her years there, effectively cutting it out of her personal history.