Why Robert F. Smith’s pledge to pay off Morehouse loans is a turning point for colleges and the billionaires that support them

“We often see these big gifts from donors to college campuses directed at schools that either don’t enroll a high share of students of color or low-income students, often in service of putting their name on a building or funding a very narrowly focused scholarship program. This is very different from that,” Mark Huelsman, associate director of research and policy at Demos, a left-leaning think tank, told MarketWatch.

“This is something that is aimed at transforming the lives of a group of graduates from an institution that has a lot of history in creating and maintaining the black middle class,” he continued. “If you compare this to some of the other gifts given in higher education, it’s incredibly stark, and I would hope points us to a smarter, better model of philanthropy where people’s lives are genuinely being transformed.”

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