{"id":2762,"date":"2026-09-18T00:47:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T00:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/?p=2762"},"modified":"2026-10-13T00:50:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T00:50:34","slug":"college-breaks-fundraising-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/09\/18\/college-breaks-fundraising-record\/","title":{"rendered":"College breaks fundraising record"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Julia Kramer<\/a> \u00b7 News Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
More than 70% of Grove City College students receive some financial aid funded by donors. (GCC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Grove City College has broken fundraising records this year by raising a total of $75 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly $25 million more than last year\u2019s \u201crecord setting\u201d amount, this year\u2019s fundraising will create more financial aid opportunities for students while funding several long-awaited renovation projects.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRaising $75 million this year is both an extraordinary achievement and a reminder of the responsibility to steward this generosity well. I\u2019m 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,\u201d Grove City College President Bradley Lingo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While donor gifts have been more generous in recent years than ever before, Jeffrey Prokovich, the college\u2019s vice president for advancement, pointed to one gift for making this year\u2019s historic amount possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA large part of the success was due in part to the estate gift or legacy gift left by David Rathburn,\u201d Prokovich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s contributions are now comparable to those of the Pew family, who donated heavily to the school and funded multiple extensive construction projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDavid really believed in Grove City College, in our mission and in our education we provide,\u201d Prokovich said, citing how Rathburn purposefully designated 75% of the funds toward increasing financial aid and merit-based scholarships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the college does not accept any federal taxpayer funding, student loans or grants, college-funded scholarships are essential to many students\u2019 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\u2019 financial aid needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For at least one student, however, the financial aid was not sufficient to meet her needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI left Grove City College largely because there was not enough financial aid provided to be able to stay,\u201d former student Olivia Massucci said. \u201cWhile 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massucci hopes that this year\u2019s fundraising will keep current students from having to choose between their finances and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, increased financial aid and scholarships do not necessarily mean that yearly tuition increases will cease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn recent years, we have more financial aid to give to students directly than ever before,\u201d Prokovich said. \u201cBut actually, if you look at the economy, our costs continue to rise greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impact 150, the college\u2019s multiyear initiative to raise $225 million \u201cto address top campus priorities and ensure a solid financial foundation for the future\u201d is one way the college is addressing the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative has already raised over $90 million for financial aid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Julia Kramer \u00b7 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\u2019s \u201crecord setting\u201d amount, this year\u2019s fundraising will create more financial aid opportunities for students while funding several long-awaited renovation projects.   \u201cRaising $75 million this year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[184,7],"tags":[178,268,80,18,181],"class_list":["post-2762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administration","category-news","tag-2026-edition","tag-administration","tag-julia-kramer","tag-news","tag-sept-18"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Fundraising-scaled.webp",2560,1708,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Fundraising-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Fundraising-300x200.webp",300,200,true],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Fundraising-768x512.webp",768,512,true],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Fundraising-1024x683.webp",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Fundraising-1536x1025.webp",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Fundraising-2048x1366.webp",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"puruckermt24","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/puruckermt24\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Julia Kramer \u00b7 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\u2019s \u201crecord setting\u201d amount, this year\u2019s fundraising will create more financial aid opportunities for students while funding several long-awaited renovation projects.   \u201cRaising $75 million this year…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2762"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2974,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2762\/revisions\/2974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}