Buzz
By now, you've likely seen at least one headline about the most unforgettable graduation speech of 2019: Robert F. Smith stunned 396 new graduates last weekend when he told Morehouse College’s class of 2019 that he would pay off their student loans—every single one.
The billionaire didn't immediately clarify how he would handle the massive bill, estimated to be as much as $40 million. With an estimated net worth of $5 billion, Smith is well known for his generosity toward educational causes. But for graduates facing years of student loan repayments, it's a lot to process.
This past year, tuition with room and board at Morehouse totaled $48,500. The average student loan debt for graduates from private colleges is $32,300. No matter how you look at it, that's a huge sum—multiplying $32,300 by 396 results in an estimated total of $12,790,800. Woof.
So, is this the answer? We simply wait for the ultra-wealthy to write checks that wipe away our debt? Not quite. When you add up the combined net worth of the 10 richest people in the United States, it totals $729.7 billion. Meanwhile, the nation is saddled with around $1.56 trillion in student loan debt. Even if you pool the fortunes of Bezos, Gates, Koch, and others, we still fall far short of erasing the debt. (And let’s face it, the idea of these billionaires giving away their entire net worth is nearly impossible.)
This is why it’s so difficult to fully support or dismiss any single solution to the student loan crisis, despite the hope each offers. Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to tax the ‘ultra-rich’ suggests it could generate $2.75 trillion in revenue over the next decade, but that would also fund initiatives like universal childcare, the Green New Deal, and Medicare, not just student loan relief. Warren’s plan would aid struggling borrowers, but it’s far from the immediate solution many of us are seeking. NYU’s offer of free medical school is fantastic, but it's available to only a select few. Employer loan-repayment programs can ease the burden over time, but first, you need to land the job.
So yes, it’s remarkable that this billionaire is covering the loans of 396 new graduates. But unless something shifts within the system itself, we’ll continue to be stunned by the rare generosity of the wealthy. Eventually, the novelty may fade, and the public’s attention will wane, no matter how grand the gesture. And we’ll find ourselves back where we started, likely wondering if anyone will ever truly benefit from public service loan forgiveness.
