Billionaire to pay off $40 Million college debt for Morehouse College class of 2019

Well, I did it in the 90's at a state school. The tuition was still manageable and I got out with zero student loan debt. My parents did help, but only a little. I was amazed though at what a friend of mine paid to go to the same school just a little while after I did. It had skyrocketed!

My dh did too, in the mid 90's.
My dd and my ds each have friends paying their way through school now. It is possible if you choose a state school and live at home.
Not every single college/university out there is astronomical in costs.
 


I did not know there was such a thing as an all-male (or all female if that had been the case) university. I learn things on the DIS...:thumbsup2

There are 2 HBCU women's colleges.

Spellman in Atlanta (right near Morehouse) and Bennett in NC.
Bethune ( now Bethune-Cookman) in Florida was all female before combining with Cookman.
How are there still all-male or female schools in 2019?

These schools exist because the students and parents want this type of education.

There are several single sex charter, independent and public schools on NYC.

Why wouldn't this option continue to be available at the college level?
 
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I saw suggestions that this now could be used as a social experiment. Follow these kids for the next 10-15 years and see how differently their lives are from other students who graduated this year who are saddled with crushing student loan debt.
 


I saw suggestions that this now could be used as a social experiment. Follow these kids for the next 10-15 years and see how differently their lives are from other students who graduated this year who are saddled with crushing student loan debt.
:scratchin I guess I'm not opposed to it in theory, but I would HATE it if that was the intention from the start, without the prior knowledge of the recipients. I also don't think they should be compelled into a study of any kind.
 
:scratchin I guess I'm not opposed to it in theory, but I would HATE it if that was the intention from the start, without the prior knowledge of the recipients. I also don't think they should be compelled into a study of any kind.

But then they would need 400 non college people who were just given 200 grand and see how their life turned out too. I mean if we are making up studies to consider, why not?
 
But then they would need 400 non college people who were just given 200 grand and see how their life turned out too. I mean if we are making up studies to consider, why not?
Personally, if I were one of the recipients I'd NEVER agree to be studied. :worship: I'd be too busy thanking God and making sure I honored the donor appropriately by charting a course towards paying it forward. I didn't read anywhere that there were conditions attached to the gift. I'm sure there will be those that just take-the-money-and-run, so to speak and those that despite this advantage will have less than successful futures. I don't know that there's enough of a benefit to finding out to make a formal study worthwhile.
 
There are 2 HBCU women's colleges.

Spellman in Atlanta (right near Morehouse) and Bennett in NC.
Bethune ( now Bethune-Cookman) in Florida was all female before combining with Cookman.


These schools exist because the students and parents want this type of education.

There are several single sex charter, independent and public schools on NYC.

Why wouldn't this option continue to be available at the college level?

There are several in upstate NY as well.
Where I grew up there were 4 for girls, and 3 for boys. They are all private and all but one are still open and operating as single sex schools today.
 
Ok sour grapes here.....what about the kid that worked three part time jobs and ate PB sandwiches for 4 years vs the kid that partied and just made it to graduation.

But to the giver of the gift....WOW.

I had the same thoughts.

The days of working 3 part time jobs to pay tuition are over, that ended in the 80s. Tuition is way over the part time job level today

The days of sacrificing to have less debt will never be over. Some people work really hard to minimize their debt. Whether that debt is zero or not doesn't matter. The cost incurred was the same, the method of payment was different. While many of the students in that audience probably worked really hard to minimize their debt, some of them accumulated more debt than might be absolutely necessary because of their lifestyle choices. This kind of "lottery win" type of surprise rewards those who took more student loans. Period. There needs to be a way to reduce the hardship for everyone - not just those who may have made the riskiest choices.

Yes, this was generous and exciting. But if I were in that audience I would have been immediately deflated because of the choices we made. I was PROUD of how hard I worked to put my kids through school. Now I'd be thinking I should have followed the "life is short spend my money now and worry about college later" mentality and I just wasted a whole lot of my life paying for something I could have gotten for free had I made riskier choices. I'd also be thrilled for the kid working while going to school and living cheaply, but I'd be irritated/jealous about the kid who was using their student loan money for vacations and new furniture and now got that for free. Making the choice to take out 200k of loans for a bachelor's degree is unfathomable for me, as is the windfall that student just got. I think it's only natural for the student who worked really hard to minimize loans to say "what the heck?"

I think really mixed feelings about his are normal, as are jealousy and hard feelings. Watching the majority of other students/families win the lottery while you got nothing would be hard.
 
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I think this is a great ting to do. One thing I AM curious about is what all the loan agencies, etc think about this since they won't be getting all of that interest. Will it affect the amount of loans made in the future???
 
Candidate for the best commencement address ever :thumbsup2

I'm jealous - mine sucked many years ago. :p The college just grabbed some random board member who bored us all to death. :headache:


You'd have hated ours then....it was me and a faculty member who gave the talks. Mine was full of the self-indulgent drivel you'd expect from a 22 year old. The faculty speech was great!
 
I had the same thoughts.



The days of sacrificing to have less debt will never be over. Some people work really hard to minimize their debt. Whether that debt is zero or not doesn't matter. The cost incurred was the same, the method of payment was different. While many of the students in that audience probably worked really hard to minimize their debt, some of them accumulated more debt than might be absolutely necessary because of their lifestyle choices. This kind of "lottery win" type of surprise rewards those who took more student loans. Period. There needs to be a way to reduce the hardship for everyone - not just those who may have made the riskiest choices.

Yes, this was generous and exciting. But if I were in that audience I would have been immediately deflated because of the choices we made. I was PROUD of how hard I worked to put my kids through school. Now I'd be thinking I should have followed the "life is short spend my money now and worry about college later" mentality and I just wasted a whole lot of my life paying for something I could have gotten for free had I made riskier choices. I'd also be thrilled for the kid working while going to school and living cheaply, but I'd be irritated/jealous about the kid who was using their student loan money for vacations and new furniture and now got that for free. Making the choice to take out 200k of loans for a bachelor's degree is unfathomable for me, as is the windfall that student just got. I think it's only natural for the student who worked really hard to minimize loans to say "what the heck?"

I think really mixed feelings about his are normal, as are jealousy and hard feelings. Watching the majority of other students/families win the lottery while you got nothing would be hard.

I dunno. I am paying 100% for both my kid's college. I wouldn't feel deflated by this. I'd feel grateful that all the other students got to experience what mine will....which is to graduate debt free. I can't finance any other people's kids, but I'm very thankful that I am able to do so for my kids. :-) I (and they) are very fortunate. I choose to look at that aspect rather than "gee, someone is getting something I'm not."
 
I'm just not as mature as all of you, apparently. I don't feel like those students will necessarily experience what mine did. Will they experience working from the time they turned 16 up until and during college, will they experience giving up vacations, not studying abroad, their parents having sacrificed and saved since they were born, not picking their first choice schools, not having vehicles, living as cheaply as they can?

Personally, I think those things were good for my kids and a worthwhile sacrifice for me. However, that won't stop me from wondering "hmm" when people who may have made different choices get a huge reward for doing so.

I'm not a fan of simply erasing student loans, however it's done. I'm all for programs that help lower the cost of overall tuition. I'm all for share the load type programs that help students who took loans pay it off. Windfalls for everyone except those who paid their way as they went? Not so much.
 
I'm just not as mature as all of you, apparently. I don't feel like those students will necessarily experience what mine did. Will they experience working from the time they turned 16 up until and during college, will they experience giving up vacations, not studying abroad, their parents having sacrificed and saved since they were born, not picking their first choice schools, not having vehicles, living as cheaply as they can?

Except these students did likely experience all of the things you mentioned.

And then, at commencement, as a total surprise, they found out their loan is being paid off. It doesn't change the journey to graduation, however.
 

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