Commencement Speaker Pays off Graduates’ Student Debt

Watch billionaire Robert F. Smith tell Morehouse College graduates he is paying off their student debt during his commencement speech.

Transcript

00:00This is my class 2019 and my family is making a grant to eliminate their

00:08student loans.

00:23Men of Morehouse, you are surrounded by a community of people who have helped you

00:29arrive at this sacred place and on this sacred day. On behalf of the eight

00:35generations of my family who have been in this country, we're going to put a

00:41little fuel in your bus. Now I've got the alumni over there and this is a

00:45challenge to you alumni. This is my class 2019 and my family is making a grant to

00:55eliminate their student loans. I know my class will make sure they pay this

01:00forward and I want my class to look at these alumnus, these beautiful Morehouse

01:06brothers and let's make sure every class has the same opportunity going forward.

01:26True wealth comes from contributing to the liberation of people and the

01:31liberation of communities we come from depends upon the grit and the

01:35determination and the greatness inside of you. Using your skills and your

01:39knowledge and your instincts to serve to change the world and only the way that

01:44you can. You great Morehouse men are bound again only by your limits of your

01:49own convictions and creativity. You have the power within to be great, be you, be

01:55unstoppable, be undeniable and accomplish the things that people

01:58thought you never would. I'm counting on you to load up your bus and share that

02:03journey.