Billionaire Pledges To Pay Off Graduates' Student Loan Debt

A billionaire philanthropist surprised the graduating seniors at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia by announcing that he will pay off their student loan debt during the commencement speech at the all-male historically black college.

Robert F. Smith, who received an honorary doctorate from Morehouse on Sunday (May 19), said that his family will donate money to ensure that everybody in the class of 2019 will graduate debt free.

"On behalf of the eight generations of my family that have been in this country, we're gonna put a little fuel in your bus," Smith told the graduates. "This is my class, 2019. And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans."

The students erupted into cheers and started chanting "MVP" as everybody stood to applaud his generosity.

"We're looking at each other like, 'Is he being serious?' That's a lot of money," salutatorian Robert James, told CNN.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the cost of paying off the student loans for the nearly 400 graduating seniors will be around $40 million.


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