Students of batch 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia’s Morehouse college got something they would’ve never imagined in their dreams. According to BBC News, a billionaire investor named Robert F. Smith just promised to pay off all of their student loans worth $10 million (for close to 400 students).
Wiping out student debt for an entire class of the historically all-male black school in Atlanta, Smith announced this philanthropic act while addressing students in the college.
Mr. Smith, 56, has a personal net worth of around $5bn according to Forbes and dedicated this act of generosity to his previous generations, claiming:
On behalf of the eight generations of my family that have been in this country, we’re gonna put a little fuel in your bus. This is my class, 2019. And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans.
Reacting to this news, Aaron Mitchom, 22, who wept and couldn’t believe the news, saying:
I was shocked, my heart dropped. We all cried. In the moment it was like a burden had been taken off.
Later, Morehouse College president David A Thomas was quoted by CNN as saying:
When you have to service debt, the choices about what you can go do in the world are constrained. [The grant] gives them the liberty to follow their dreams, their passions.
Making the news official to the world, Emmy-award winning producer Marcus Smith tweeted:
Wow! Billionaire Robert F. Smith surprises @Morehouse graduates by announcing this morning his family will eliminate the student debt of the entire class of 2019 with a grant. #PayItForward #HBCU pic.twitter.com/BPEDBdqryu
— Marcus Smith (@MarcusSmithKTLA) May 19, 2019
For someone who was always worried about paying off his debts, coming forward and giving the students this gift of generosity is something that reminds us humanity is alive.
