He announced this during his commencement speech, to deafening cheers, no doubt.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:
Morehouse commencement speaker to pay off Class of 2019’s student loansBillionaire Robert F. Smith, who received an honorary doctorate at Morehouse College’s Sunday morning graduation exercises, had already announced a $1.5 million gift to the school.But during his remarks in front of the nearly 400 graduating seniors, the technology investor and philanthropist surprised some by announcing that his family was providing a grant to eliminate the student debt of the entire Class of 2019.“This is my class,” he said, “and I know my class will pay this forward.”The announcement came as a surprise to Smith’s staff and to the staff at Morehouse, and elicited the biggest cheers of the morning.Tonga Releford, whose son Charles Releford III is a member of the Class of 2019, estimates that his student loans are about $70,000.“I feel like it’s Mother’s Day all over again,” she said.The gift has been estimated to be worth up to $40 million.
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