More than 300 college seniors at Morehouse College in Georgia were left in awe after billionaire investor Robert F. Smith said in his commencement speech that he will pay off their student loans.
In his speech, Smith said, “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,” referring to his massive donation to the graduates.
Although the institution is yet to calculate for the total amount, according to an article published by CNN, some experts claimed that the total value of these loans amounts to more than $40 million.
Besides this big sponsorship, Smith also donated $1.5 million to the all-male Black school Morehouse. The purpose of this donation is to build a new park on the campus and for scholarships.
In addition to Smith’s generosity to Morehouse College, he also pledged $50 million to Cornell University, one of his alma maters. This is in support of the engineering department, helping black and female engineering students.
Smith is known to pass his blessings forward, helping educational institutions develop campuses and even send students to college. He believes that by doing this, he will inspire others to do the same and follow what was started.
Currently, Robert F. Smith’s net worth is $5 billion according to Forbes. He is a founder of Vista Equity, which has more than $46 billion capital commitments. His company has been successful and is considered the wealthiest African-American company.
As a son of educators, Smith has seen potential when he was younger because of his skills in business. He has a degree in business school at Columbia University and makes a fortune by investing in the tech sector.
He was in Goldman Sachs before starting his own company way back in 2000.
