It’s no small feat convincing graduating seniors to donate money in the midst of a poor job market. Yet, the Class of 2010 Fund did just that.

“It’s tough for young people to make commitments when there’s a lot of uncertainty,” Ben Jarrett, Assistant Director in the Office of Advancement, said. “But, we know how lucky we are at Georgetown to have such dedicated students.”

When Vox last checked in on the Class of 2010 Fund in early April, a quarter of the senior class had donated approximately $17,000 total. The final numbers, however, show a late-semester surge. With a 67% participation rate, the Class of 2010 ultimately donated $37,793 to the University.

The Fund’s numbers mark three-year highs in both donation amount and participation rate; the Class of 2010 raised about $15,000 more than the Class of 2009, while convincing 11% more of its senior class to donate.

Lauren Huddleston, Class of 2010 Fund Co-Chair, suggested that on-campus events, such as a senior toast in Riggs Library with President John DeGioia and a semi-formal held in the Hariri building, helped boost the Fund.

“We tried to market ourselves and put ourselves in any event where seniors would be,” Huddleston said. “We tried to appeal to a cross-section of our class.”

While $22,000 of the Fund will go to towards the 1789 Scholarship Imperative and the Georgetown Fund, the remaining monies will be split among specific departments or funds chosen by each donor. According to Jarrett, the next-highest donation choices were academic departments, student groups, and athletic programs.

Curious about how the Class of 2010 compares to previous classes? We’ve got the charts after the jump.

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Although Vox is certain that some members of the class of 2010 will disagree with its assessment, Bloomberg Businessweek named Georgetown’s home city as second only to Houston in terms of entry-level job opportunities.

D.C. made some serious strides compared to the 2009 rankings, when the city was considered the 19th-best in the nation. Businessweek boasts that government jobs are recession-proof, but points to the city’s high cost of living and unemployment rates to explain why it fell short of the number one spot.

Surprisingly, Houston topped list despite an average starting salary $10,000 lower than the average in D.C.

So, the message is clear—stay in D.C. if you can. (Here’s looking at you, Class of 2011!)

Photo by Flickr user “nostri-imago” used under a Creative Commons license.

You probably saw those signs last Thursday—”Did you know your tuition runs out today?” “Did you know that 55 percent of Georgetown students receive financial aid?”—which were making their annual appearance on Copley Lawn to mark ‘Tuition Day,’ or, the day that the money students and their families pay to Georgetown no longer covers the University’s operating costs. From March 25 onwards, Georgetown is funded through alumni donations.

The signs were part of the campaign encouraging seniors to give to the Class of 2010 Fund, which annually collects money from the graduating class as gifts to Georgetown. Add that to the promotional video above—in which a train of students glide past the camera making bizarre gyrations and hand motions (save for the student who is actually signing; and clearly, they didn’t tell that first kid that this video was supposed to be inspiring)—and it’s clear that it’s that time of year again where the Class Fund amps up its efforts to encourage senior donations.

So Vox spoke with Co-Chair of the 2010 Fund Lauren Huddleston (COL ’10) to see how collection was going.

“We are right on par with where we were last year, with 25 percent of the senior class donating. We do have a goal, and it’s 65 percent of the senior class. Last year 55 percent gave,” Huddleston said.

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