Morehouse graduation speaker to pay off student loans of entire 2019 class

[This_person]

The keynote speaker at Morehouse College' commencement ceremony announced a grant Sunday wiping out the student debt of the entire 2019 graduating class.

Billionaire Robert Smith’s surprise gift in front of nearly 400 graduating seniors may be worth about $40 million, officials said.

"My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans," Smith said, according to WXIA-TV. "You great Morehouse men are bound only by the limits of your own conviction and creativity."

...

Smith was the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Morehouse during the commencement.

Morehouse College is an all-male historically black college located in Atlanta.

Smith is the founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in software, data and technology-driven companies.

Morehouse graduation speaker to pay off student loans of entire 2019 class

The keynote speaker at Morehouse College’s commencement ceremony announced a grant Sunday wiping out the student debt of the entire 2019 graduating class.

www.foxnews.com

 

[TCROW]

I wonder how many of these students will now see graduate school as a real option, whereas it wasn’t before due to looming debt. Logistically, probably too late to apply for fall admission, but imagine being able to take a year off without debt looming over your head.

I’d love the see the years-out studies of life outcomes for the class of ‘19 vs. ‘18 and ‘20.

Time for a debt jubilee for those who have been struggling under a heavy debt load for several years now.

 

[This_person]

I wonder how many of these students will now see graduate school as a real option, whereas it wasn’t before due to looming debt. Logistically, probably too late to apply for fall admission, but imagine being able to take a year off without debt looming over your head.

I’d love the see the years-out studies of life outcomes for the class of ‘19 vs. ‘18 and ‘20.

Time for a debt jubilee for those who have been struggling under a heavy debt load for several years now.

I think it is a great thing, and I hope more people will follow Mr. Smith's lead.

This proves a few things - A. We don't need the government to fix the loan problem (other than stop backing them for people who likely won't pay it back), B. It's clear that there is not a privilege problem, C. There is still great good in this world.

 

[This_person]

My biggest hope for this graduating class is that they do exactly what Mr. Smith suggested and pay it forward. If in 10 or 20 years they can support just one person for just one year, based on NOT having had to do it for themselves, they will have paid it forward in spades (in my opinion).

 

[transporter]

I think it is a great thing, and I hope more people will follow Mr. Smith's lead.

This proves a few things - A. We don't need the government to fix the loan problem (other than stop backing them for people who likely won't pay it back), B. It's clear that there is not a privilege problem, C. There is still great good in this world.

Just to point out the stunningly obvious:

Regarding Point A: Total outstanding student loan debt in this country is roughly $1.5 trillion dollars. Reportedly, the total gift made by Mr. Smith amounts to about $14M. Parents are the problem not the govt.

Regarding point B: Not sure what this story has to do with your perceived "privilege problem".

Regarding point C: True...there is good in world. Its a crying shame that our country, which should be the standard bearer for good in the world, is now lead by a man who epitomizes the ugliness in humans.

 

[GURPS]

 

[Hijinx]

There are a lot of Billionaires in this world who could well afford to do the same thing.
It's a great move by this man. I praise him for it.
Americans helping other Americans.

I hope these young Americans can appreciate the gift and carry it forward.

 

[This_person]

Just to point out the stunningly obvious:

Regarding Point A: Total outstanding student loan debt in this country is roughly $1.5 trillion dollars. Reportedly, the total gift made by Mr. Smith amounts to about $14M. Parents are the problem not the govt.

How? Explain.

Regarding point B: Not sure what this story has to do with your perceived "privilege problem".

Well, let me explain it to you.

The argument is that there are no black people who can help black people because a couple of centuries ago some black people were enslaved, as state governments allowed and federal government did not specifically prohibit (because it lacked the authority to do so). Yet, here we can see an "historically black" college full of fine graduates with good educations having their loans paid off by a black billionaire in a country that has had a biracial president and black representation in the Senate since the 1870 (Republican, of course).

Thus, whites do not hold a privilege which blacks are somehow immune to.

Regarding point C: True...there is good in world. Its a crying shame that our country, which should be the standard bearer for good in the world, is now lead by a man who epitomizes the ugliness in humans.

Interestingly, I hear positive things about our country from him, and negative things about him from you.

But, our country is not led by him. Our government is. You should learn the difference.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

I wonder how many of these students will now see graduate school as a real option, whereas it wasn’t before due to looming debt. Logistically, probably too late to apply for fall admission, but imagine being able to take a year off without debt looming over your head.

I’d love the see the years-out studies of life outcomes for the class of ‘19 vs. ‘18 and ‘20.

Time for a debt jubilee for those who have been struggling under a heavy debt load for several years now.

Imagine being that one kid who barely missed graduating this year.

Parents are the problem not the govt.

No. Government-backed loans are the problem.

 

[glhs837]

Imagine being that one kid who barely missed graduating this year.


No. Government-backed loans are the problem.

I'll expand on this. Govt backed loans for degees in fields in which the odds of getting a job that can remotely come close to paying a wage that allows you to both live and pay back the loan are the majority of the problem. A graduating engineer with 80-100K in debt can most likely secure a job that allows t both live decently and pay off that loan. A graduating English major, or Gender Studies? The odds of them finding employment that does so are vanishingly small. Here's a little breakdown I found of types of degrees. Bolding mine. Restricted to Bachelors, figuring those would be the most common ones with a higher debt load. And of course, this doesnt begin to account for the most likely staggering numbers of folks who enter colledge, run up some significant amount of debt and dont graduate. I bolded ones I think are most likely to leave someone with a silly amount of debt.

Of the 1,895,000 bachelor's degrees conferred in 2014–15, the greatest numbers of degrees were conferred in the fields of business (364,000), health professions and related programs (216,000), social sciences and history (167,000), psychology (118,000), biological and biomedical sciences (110,000), engineering (98,000), visual and performing arts (96,000), and education (92,000).

 

[Chris0nllyn]

I'll expand on this. Govt backed loans for degees in fields in which the odds of getting a job that can remotely come close to paying a wage that allows you to both live and pay back the loan are the majority of the problem. A graduating engineer with 80-100K in debt can most likely secure a job that allows t both live decently and pay off that loan. A graduating English major, or Gender Studies? The odds of them finding employment that does so are vanishingly small. Here's a little breakdown I found of types of degrees. Bolding mine. Restricted to Bachelors, figuring those would be the most common ones with a higher debt load. And of course, this doesnt begin to account for the most likely staggering numbers of folks who enter colledge, run up some significant amount of debt and dont graduate. I bolded ones I think are most likely to leave someone with a silly amount of debt.

I don't think it matters what the degree is in.

The NY Fed did a study and found:

that institutions more exposed to changes in the subsidized federal loan program increased their tuition disproportionately around these policy changes, with a sizable pass-through effect on tuition of about 65 percent. We also find that Pell Grant aid and the unsubsidized federal loan program have pass-through effects on tuition, although these are economically and statistically not as strong.

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr733.pdf

Government (i.e. taxpayers) makes school more "affordable" for the student and it's no different than the recent housing bubble. Government helped people take on loads of debt they couldn't repay.

 

[Clem72]

Imagine being that one kid who barely missed graduating this year.

Imagine being a kid who busted his ass to get grants or pay his/her own way or used the GI bill. Shows them that hard work is rewarded, but laziness equally so.

 

[glhs837]

The tuition bloat is indeed the result of "easy money", like any govt teat that gets proffered. That bloat is part of the debt, but not the only aspect. The selling of college for fields where there's no significant hope of making enough to pay the debt, or a very high chance the student will never has the drive and skill to complete a degree are two other aspects of it. I know a few young people who went and got degrees on loans for stuff that tehre are very few jobs or, and far fewere that would allow a minimal standard of living and enough left over to service the debt. A young man with a degree in womans studies who is the "Beer Guy" at a Whole Foods for instance.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

The tuition bloat is indeed the result of "easy money", like any govt teat that gets proffered. That bloat is part of the debt, but not the only aspect. The selling of college for fields where there's no significant hope of making enough to pay the debt, or a very high chance the student will never has the drive and skill to complete a degree are two other aspects of it. I know a few young people who went and got degrees on loans for stuff that tehre are very few jobs or, and far fewere that would allow a minimal standard of living and enough left over to service the debt. A young man with a degree in womans studies who is the "Beer Guy" at a Whole Foods for instance.

Right. If govt. didn't subsidize "gender studies" degrees (for example), and there's not much of a market for people with them, then people wouldn't get the degree and less schools would offer it. But since govt. pays for it and some students want it, schools will offer it because they're getting paid.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Imagine being a kid who busted his ass to get grants or pay his/her own way or used the GI bill. Shows them that hard work is rewarded, but laziness equally so.

I disagree. No one at that graduation thought they'd be getting their $100,000 loans paid off. Plus, it's not happening all over the country and the hard working students still have their entire lives to put that hard work to their benefit.

 

[glhs837]

Right. If govt. didn't subsidize "gender studies" degrees (for example), and there's not much of a market for people with them, then people wouldn't get the degree and less schools would offer it. But since govt. pays for it and some students want it, schools will offer it because they're getting paid.

But I'm fine with govt backed loans for fields where we are deficit in workers. Take some of the money that was spent subsidizing over half a million business and social "sciences" and earmark that for STEM degrees, since we seemingly cant keep up with demand and need to import folks with degrees in those fields. Partially becuase the huge debt load from bloated tuitions means a newly graduated engineer from here with a $100K debt needs a higher starting salary than one from India who only paid for classes in engineering and so has a debt load of 30K.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

But I'm fine with govt backed loans for fields where we are deficit in workers. Take some of the money that was spent subsidizing over half a million business and social "sciences" and earmark that for STEM degrees, since we seemingly cant keep up with demand and need to import folks with degrees in those fields. Partially becuase the huge debt load from bloated tuitions means a newly graduated engineer from here with a $100K debt needs a higher starting salary than one from India who only paid for classes in engineering and so has a debt load of 30K.

I don't think govt. should be in the lending business. We see what happens when they do.

 

[glhs837]

I don't think govt. should be in the lending business. We see what happens when they do.

I agree, industry should be the ones making it easier to get an education that helps them make money in the long run. My point was that if we are going to be, then at least lets do it for the national benefit.

 

[GURPS]

I know how about a testing process where by BUSINESSES offer programs to High School Graduates who pass exams for a certain field

work for us after college and we will fund your education

 

[This_person]

No. Government-backed loans are the problem.