Diabolical_Dos
Unverified Legion of Trill member
Robert Smith is all about giving!
We covered the story, back in May, billionaire Robert F. Smith was the commencement guest speaker at Morehouse and made a huge announcement. He announced that his family will be giving a grant to end the student debt for the entire Class of 2019. The total came out to a $34 Million to wipe out the student's debt.
Smith is taking his philanthropy work a step further. He’s offering “to pay off the debt of parents that took out loans for their kids to attend the prestigious institution,” reported on a site.
“Along with his gifts to Morehouse, in 2016, Smith pledged $50 million to his alma mater, Cornell University, toward the school's college of engineering.”
Smith was one of the wealthiest African American in the country in 2018.
In May, the private-equity billionaire Robert F. Smith announced he'd be setting up a grant to wipe out the entire Morehouse College class of 2019's student-loan debt.
Now that offer has been expanded to also cover those students' parents' education debt, according to a September 20 press release.
The gift cost Smith $34 million, the historically black college said in the press release. According to the press release, Smith will make the donation to Morehouse's new Student Success Program, which will in turn completely pay off all federal student loans borrowed by the 400 Morehouse students who graduated in May, nearly all of whom are black men, as well as loans owed by their parents and legal guardians.
"This liberation gift from Robert Smith — the first of its kind to be announced at a graduation in higher education —will be life-changing for our new Morehouse Men and their families," Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said in a statement. "It is our hope that our graduates will use their newfound financial freedom to pursue their career goals, to lead and serve the community, and to remember the spirit of the gift given to them by paying it forward to support the education of future classes of Morehouse Men."
Smith first announced the gift while speaking at the class of 2019's commencement in May. "My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans," Smith told the graduates at the ceremony, Business Insider previously reported. "You great Morehouse men are bound only by the limits of your own conviction and creativity."
Smith is the chairman and CEO of the Austin, Texas-based private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners. He has a net worth of $6.08 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
"With the Student Success Program in place, there is a model for all colleges and universities, starting with Morehouse and HBCUs, to receive gifts from alumni and other supporters that can offset the burden of student loans and give students the freedom to pursue their dreams, the capital to invest in the economic growth of their families and the time that they can give back meaningfully to strengthening their communities," Smith said in a statement to Business Insider.
We covered the story, back in May, billionaire Robert F. Smith was the commencement guest speaker at Morehouse and made a huge announcement. He announced that his family will be giving a grant to end the student debt for the entire Class of 2019. The total came out to a $34 Million to wipe out the student's debt.
Smith is taking his philanthropy work a step further. He’s offering “to pay off the debt of parents that took out loans for their kids to attend the prestigious institution,” reported on a site.
“Along with his gifts to Morehouse, in 2016, Smith pledged $50 million to his alma mater, Cornell University, toward the school's college of engineering.”
Smith was one of the wealthiest African American in the country in 2018.
- The private-equity billionaire Robert F. Smith isn't just going to pay off the Morehouse class of 2019's student loans as he promised at their graduation: He's now promising to pay off their parents' education debt too.
- The gift will cost Smith $34 million, the historically black college said in a press release on September 20.
- Smith has a net worth of $6.08 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
In May, the private-equity billionaire Robert F. Smith announced he'd be setting up a grant to wipe out the entire Morehouse College class of 2019's student-loan debt.
Now that offer has been expanded to also cover those students' parents' education debt, according to a September 20 press release.
The gift cost Smith $34 million, the historically black college said in the press release. According to the press release, Smith will make the donation to Morehouse's new Student Success Program, which will in turn completely pay off all federal student loans borrowed by the 400 Morehouse students who graduated in May, nearly all of whom are black men, as well as loans owed by their parents and legal guardians.
"This liberation gift from Robert Smith — the first of its kind to be announced at a graduation in higher education —will be life-changing for our new Morehouse Men and their families," Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said in a statement. "It is our hope that our graduates will use their newfound financial freedom to pursue their career goals, to lead and serve the community, and to remember the spirit of the gift given to them by paying it forward to support the education of future classes of Morehouse Men."
Smith first announced the gift while speaking at the class of 2019's commencement in May. "My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans," Smith told the graduates at the ceremony, Business Insider previously reported. "You great Morehouse men are bound only by the limits of your own conviction and creativity."
Smith is the chairman and CEO of the Austin, Texas-based private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners. He has a net worth of $6.08 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
"With the Student Success Program in place, there is a model for all colleges and universities, starting with Morehouse and HBCUs, to receive gifts from alumni and other supporters that can offset the burden of student loans and give students the freedom to pursue their dreams, the capital to invest in the economic growth of their families and the time that they can give back meaningfully to strengthening their communities," Smith said in a statement to Business Insider.
