A New Year's Speaker from Morehouse Will Repay Student Loans from the 2019 Promotion

ATLANTA – Billionaire Robert F. Smith, who received an honorary doctorate at Sunday morning graduation practices at Morehouse College, had already announced a donation of $ 1.5 million to the school.

But in his speech to nearly 400 graduate seniors, the technology investor and billionaire philanthropist surprised some by announcing that his family was providing a grant to eliminate student debt from the 2019 class as a whole.

"It's my class," he said, "and I know my class will pay for it."

The announcement sparked the biggest screams of the morning.

TODAY IN CHANNEL 2: We are talking to the investor about his commitment to Morehouse graduates.

"My family will create a grant to eliminate your student loans!" -Robert F. Smith told the promotion of 2019 @RFS_Vista # MorehouseGrad2019 pic.twitter.com/etG8JhVA46

– Morehouse College (@Morehouse) May 19, 2019

TRENDS

Tonga Releford, whose son Charles Releford III is a member of the 2019 promotion, estimates that his student loans are around $ 70,000.

"I feel like it's Mother's Day again," she said.

The donation was estimated at $ 40 million.

Tonga's husband, Charles Releford III, is also a graduate of Morehouse. He added that their youngest son, Colin, was junior at Morehouse.

He does not know who will be the keynote speaker at Colin's graduation ceremony, but he hopes Smith's return performance.

"Maybe he'll come back next year."

© 2019 Cox Media Group.