Smith's gift to Morehouse students highlights how acute the nation’s $1.5 trillion student loan problem has become, particularly for students of color
As minute 33 approached in billionaire Robert Smith’s commencement address to Morehouse College’s class of 2019 Sunday, Khalil Downey, one of the graduates, was eager to get out of the hot Atlanta weather and receive his diploma.
For Downey, Smith’s gift has the potential to alter the course of his life. Downey, who along with his parents is carrying a six-figure debt for his education, discovered his passion for photography and videography during his junior year at Morehouse. While generous — the gift is worth an estimated $40 million — and exciting, the donation highlights how acute our nation’s $1.5 trillion student loan problem has become, particularly for students of color.
Black students are more likely to borrow to attend college, tend to borrow more and struggle more to repay their debt. While the gift will benefit the 400 students who receive student-debt cancellation most directly, HBCU leaders are hopeful it will draw attention to the schools, the students they serve their needs.
‘It re-emphasizes for me that we still have large pockets of people that have nothing when they go to college and they’re going on a hope and a prayer.’ —Walter Kimbrough, president of Dillard University And HBCUs can’t rely on a repeat of this kind of generosity to help these students cope, Kimbrough said.
For one, the offer creates a sort of natural experiment that researchers can use to study the impact of student loan cancellation on students’ lives.
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