By Julia Kramer · News Editor
Grove City College has broken fundraising records this year by raising a total of $75 million.
Nearly $25 million more than last year’s “record setting” amount, this year’s fundraising will create more financial aid opportunities for students while funding several long-awaited renovation projects.
“Raising $75 million this year is both an extraordinary achievement and a reminder of the responsibility to steward this generosity well. I’m deeply grateful to our alumni and friends whose belief in Grove City College made this possible, and to our advancement professionals, whose service is critical in this area,” Grove City College President Bradley Lingo said.
While donor gifts have been more generous in recent years than ever before, Jeffrey Prokovich, the college’s vice president for advancement, pointed to one gift for making this year’s historic amount possible.
“A large part of the success was due in part to the estate gift or legacy gift left by David Rathburn,” Prokovich said.
An alumnus and former chairman of the board, Rathburn died in 2024 and left behind an estate gift of over $70 million. Although the final amount is still not certain, Prokovich said Rathburn’s contributions are now comparable to those of the Pew family, who donated heavily to the school and funded multiple extensive construction projects.
“David really believed in Grove City College, in our mission and in our education we provide,” Prokovich said, citing how Rathburn purposefully designated 75% of the funds toward increasing financial aid and merit-based scholarships.
Because the college does not accept any federal taxpayer funding, student loans or grants, college-funded scholarships are essential to many students’ ability to attend. According to the Impact 150 website, currently, 70% of students receive need- or merit-based aid. Reports from U.S. News find that the college meets 68% of its students’ financial aid needs.
For at least one student, however, the financial aid was not sufficient to meet her needs.
“I left Grove City College largely because there was not enough financial aid provided to be able to stay,” former student Olivia Massucci said. “While I am not unhappy with my choice, there are so many friends I had to leave behind and so many memories I could have made.”
Massucci hopes that this year’s fundraising will keep current students from having to choose between their finances and friends.
However, increased financial aid and scholarships do not necessarily mean that yearly tuition increases will cease.
“In recent years, we have more financial aid to give to students directly than ever before,” Prokovich said. “But actually, if you look at the economy, our costs continue to rise greatly.”
Prokovich compared it to a difficult balancing act; one where every year, the college must decide how to meet increased food and energy costs without putting an undue burden on students.
Impact 150, the college’s multiyear initiative to raise $225 million “to address top campus priorities and ensure a solid financial foundation for the future” is one way the college is addressing the issue.
The initiative has already raised over $90 million for financial aid.
