Speaking at Morehouse College’s commencement ceremony Sunday, a billionaire investor dropped an announcement that sent ripples of relief among graduating students, and has furthered the national conversation about the burden of student debt.
Robert F. Smith told the nearly 400 graduates of the historically Black college that he was paying off their student loans. The total amount is about $40 million, according to the Associated Press.
Talk about a graduation gift! Morehouse College Spring Class of 2019 Commencement Speaker Robert F. Smith will be establishing a grant to pay off the Class of 2019’s Student Loans so they’ll be graduating debt free! What a time to be a Morehouse Man! #MorehouseGrad2019 pic.twitter.com/uZ9RGP0RML
— HBCU Pulse (@thehbcupulse) May 19, 2019
“On behalf of the eight generations of my family who have been in this country, we’re going to put a little fuel in your bus,” Smith, who is the founder and CEO of investment firm Vista Equity Partners, told the crowd.
Talk about a graduation gift! Morehouse College Spring Class of 2019 Commencement Speaker Robert F. Smith will be establishing a grant to pay off the Class of 2019’s Student Loans so they’ll be graduating debt free! What a time to be a Morehouse Man! #MorehouseGrad2019 pic.twitter.com/uZ9RGP0RML
— HBCU Pulse (@thehbcupulse) May 19, 2019
“This is my class 2019, and my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans,” he said, with everyone from the students to those seated behind him stunned and cheering. The panel of professors and speakers on stage rose to honor his announcement.
“When he said those words … all my classmates’ mouths dropped open. We were speechless,” Kamal Medlock, a Morehouse student who had $80,000 in loans, told NPR. “We were shocked.”
And Medlock is already thinking about paying it forward, as Smith had urged students to do in this speech. Other students at Morehouse also expressed their gratitude online.
https://twitter.com/_kingstretch/status/1130212203938893825
Just Graduated from Morehouse College debt free. This just the beginnin. Blessed and highly thankful to be where I’m at in life right now.
— HunchoⓂ️ (@hunchomel) May 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/TheRealDwytt/status/1130187778300547073
Some pointed out that perhaps Smith will inspire other rich folks to do the same.
https://twitter.com/MrDane1982/status/1130302886305554434
Smith has definitely set the bar high for commencement speakers everywhere. The mother of a student who was just relieved of an estimated $70,000 in loans told the Atlanta Constitutional Journal that she hopes Smith might be back next year for their other son’s graduation from Morehouse.
This is incredible. And I feel sorry for the next Morehouse College commencement speaker. The bar has been raised REALLY high!!!! https://t.co/I9iWf0AD2g
— Marshall Ramsey ✏️ (@MarshallRamsey) May 19, 2019
The person who’ll be taking the Morehouse College 2020 Commencement Speech and Address probably has the hardest task ever. Have a debt free week y’all. 😁😉😎 #MorehouseGrad2019 #MorehouseCollege #Morehouse
— Oyindamola Johnson (@DamolaJohnson) May 20, 2019
But mostly, people pointed out that we shouldn’t wait around and rely on a handful of heroes to solve student debt woes. It should be government policy.
https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1130224396545564672
https://twitter.com/RodolfoCongress/status/1130165216216412160
https://twitter.com/helaineolen/status/1130232439723429894
Student debt has been an increasingly dreadful concern among many American students as well as their parents. According to the latest 2019 data, a total of 44 million people are in a collective student debt of $1.5 trillion. It’s also a key talking point in the upcoming presidential elections, with Massachusetts senator and presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren’s announcement of an ambitious plan that would relieve students of their student debt and make public colleges tuition-free.
