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A billionaire technology investor surprised all graduates of Morehouse College by announcing Sunday the repayment of their student loan, estimated at 40 million dollars.
Robert F. Smith, this year's keynote speaker, made the announcement by addressing nearly 400 graduates of the all-male, historically black college of Atlanta. Smith, who is black, is the founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in software, data and technology-based businesses.
"On behalf of eight generations of my family who are in this country, we will put some fuel on your bus," said the investor and philanthropist to the graduates in his morning speech. "That's my class, 2019. And my family is offering a grant to eliminate their student loans."
The announcement immediately drew stunned looks from teachers and students. The graduates then began the biggest cheers of the morning and stood up to applaud. Morehouse said that it was the biggest gift in college.
Smith, who received an honorary doctorate from Morehouse at the ceremony, had already announced a $ 1.5 million donation to the school. The student debt for the 2019 promotion is estimated at $ 40 million, although no immediate total has yet been calculated.
Smith said that he expected recipients to "pay the sum", and that he hoped "every class has the same opportunities in the future".
"Because we are able to take care of our own community," Smith said. "We have enough to make sure that we have all the opportunities of the American dream, and we will show it to each other through our actions and through our words and deeds."
In the weeks leading up to his graduation from Morehouse, Major Financial Aaron Mitchom, 22, set up a spreadsheet to calculate the time it would take him to repay his $ 200,000 of student loans – 25 years at half of his monthly salary, per year. calculations.
In an instant, that number has disappeared. Mitchom, sitting in the crowd, cried.
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"I can delete this spreadsheet," he said in an interview after the start of the work. "I do not need to live with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I was shocked, my heart dropped, we all cried, when it was like if a burden had been removed. "
His mother, Tina Mitchom, was also shocked. Eight family members, including the 76-year-old Mitchom's grandmother, took turns for four years to sign the loans that led her to cross the finish line.
"It takes a village," she said. "This means that he can now start paying for it and close that gap much earlier, giving back to college and thinking about a succession plan" for his younger siblings.
Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said the gift would have a profound impact on the students' future.
"Many of my students are interested in teaching, for example, but are leaving with a student debt amount that makes this unsustainable," Thomas said in an interview. "In a way, it was a liberation gift for those young men who had just opened up their choices."
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– By Erinn Haines Whack
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