Every year, approximately 23,729 colleges world-wide secure a commencement speaker to deliver a commencement address to the graduates of their respective school. This year, Morehouse College, a small, historically black, all-male college (most notably known as the college that Martin Luther King, Jr. attended), invited Robert F. Smith to be their commencement speaker. Most people reading this will probably say, “Never heard of him.” Well, he is often referred to as “the quiet billionaire.” He is the CEO of Vista Equity Partners, probably another company you never heard of.<\/p>\n
Well, he had a surprise for the roughly 400 graduates of 2019. He was going to donate roughly 40 million dollars to pay off their student loans. \u201cOn behalf of the eight generations of my family that have been in this country, we\u2019re gonna put a little fuel in your bus,\u201d Smith told the graduates. \u201cThis is my class, 2019. And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans.\u201d<\/p>\n
After relieving the students of their debt, he urged them to “pay it forward.”<\/p>\n