Robert F. Smith鈥檚 speech at Sunday鈥檚 Morehouse College graduation ceremony started like most. The billionaire entrepreneur and Austin resident extolled the virtues of hard work and the benefits of a college education, then the speech took a turn.
鈥淭his is my class, 2019,鈥� Smith said. "And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans.鈥�
The reality of what Smith said took a few seconds to sink in for the graduating seniors of the all-male college, but when it did, they then began chanting "MVP." The school's tuition costs $33,000 a year with financial aid, .
"I know my class will make sure they pay this forward,鈥� Smith continued. "And let鈥檚 make sure every class has the same opportunity going forward.鈥�
His gift to the class is estimated to total $40 million 鈥� that's on top of a $1.5 million donation he gave to Morehouse in January.
Smith was born in Colorado, educated at Cornell and Columbia, and now lives in Austin. He started his investment career at Goldman Sachs after several years as an engineer. Then he co-founded , an investment firm that manages $46 billion in assets. Smith鈥檚 personal worth to be $5 billion.
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