The initial money for the center came from the U.S. government, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman;[2][3] shortly afterwards, Libya donated $750,000 for to endow a chair that went to historian Hisham Sharabai, a close associate of Yasser Arafat.
[2][4][6] Since 1997, CCAS has served as the core of Georgetown University's National Resource Center on the Middle East and North Africa, funded by a Title VI grant from the US Department of Education.
[7][8] In 2019, Congressman Denver Riggleman wrote to the Department of Education seeking a review of federal funding for the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies; he also raised questions about the possible conflicts of interests arising from the presence of officials of foreign governments on its board of advisors.
[1][5][7] Its board of advisors includes representatives of the governments of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
MA in Arab Studies students can also get certificates in a number of other programs including International Business Diplomacy and Refugee and Humanitarian Emergencies.