The senior class is $1200 in debt due to homecoming, first day of school and grad night expenses.

“The senior class started out with $1100, so they had quite a bit set up towards homecoming,” Student Activities Director Lisa Hall said.

Homecoming payments usually come out to be $1100, but this year, another $200 was needed to build a permanent float base. In addition, although first day activities are usually not in the budget, the senior class spent $410 on them, in addition to another $2000 on its first down payment for grad night.

Every year, each class has its own account set up and classes fundraise to get money. “The account is under the general fund of the student body,” Hall said. “The student body could choose to help the senior class, which depends entirely on how much money it makes from dances and such, and transfer money or the seniors could have a few fundraisers.”

The senior debt has also increased due to the senior shirts that haven’t all been sold yet. “We have 50 percent of those,” Hall said. “Once those are sold, we’ll have another $1500.”

Most of the senior class’s money is going to come from the parking at Palo Alto High School (Paly) during Stanford’s home games. Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) mandates that the schools evenly split the revenue. “Gunn and Paly both work every game,” Student Body President Channing Hancock said. “So out of the six games, freshmen, sophomores and juniors each got a game and then the seniors worked three.”

Last year, the Stanford games raised about $4000 after paying adult supervisors for helping out. This money would be just enough to cover the grad night expenses according to Hall. “With candy grams and a couple of other fundraisers here and there, it’s not as dire as it looks,” Hall said.

The extra fundraisers are for the total of $6000 that goes towards paying for grad night. “What [the debt] means is that there will be less money to put towards grad night to defer the costs for the seniors,” Hall said.

Among other fundraisers, the seniors will have a senior week in January which will include shirt sales for lower prices. “We won’t make any profit,” Senior Class President Orlie Kapiltulnik said. “But hopefully we can pay back the debt for the shirts.” They also have a movie night planned for January.