A billionaire technology investor and philanthropist says he will provide grants to wipe out the student debt of the entire graduating class at Morehouse College - an estimated $40 million.

Robert F. Smith, this yearB次元官网网址檚 commencement speaker, made the announcement Sunday morning while addressing nearly 400 graduating seniors of the all-male historically black college in Atlanta. Smith is the Founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in software, data, and technology-driven companies.

B次元官网网址淥n behalf of the eight generations of my family that have been in this country, weB次元官网网址檙e gonna put a little fuel in your bus,B次元官网网址� Smith told the graduates. B次元官网网址淭his is my class, 2019. And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans.B次元官网网址�

The announcement elicited stunned looks from faculty and students alike, before the graduates broke into the biggest cheers of the morning. Morehouse said it is the single largest gift to the college.

Smith, who received an honorary doctorate from Morehouse during the ceremony, had already announced a $1.5 million gift to the school. The pledge to eliminate student debt for the class of 2019 is estimated to be $40 million.

Smith said he expected the recipients to B次元官网网址減ay it forwardB次元官网网址� and said he hoped that B次元官网网址渆very class has the same opportunity going forward.B次元官网网址�

In the weeks before graduating from Morehouse on Sunday, 22-year-old finance major Aaron Mitchom drew up a spreadsheet to calculate how long it would take him to pay back his $200,000 in student loans B次元官网网址� 25 years at half his monthly salary, per his calculations.

In an instant, that number vanished. Mitchom, sitting in the crowd, wept.

B次元官网网址淚 can delete that spreadsheet,B次元官网网址� he said in an interview after the commencement. B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 have to live off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was shocked. My heart dropped. We all cried. In the moment it was like a burden had been taken off.B次元官网网址�

His mother, Tina Mitchom, was also shocked. Eight family members, including MitchomB次元官网网址檚 76-year-old grandmother, took turns over four years co-signing on the loans that got him across the finish line.

B次元官网网址淚t takes a village,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚t now means he can start paying it forward and start closing this gap a lot sooner, giving back to the college and thinking about a succession planB次元官网网址� for his younger siblings.

Morehouse College president David A. Thomas said the gift would have a profound effect on the studentsB次元官网网址� futures.

B次元官网网址淢any of my students are interested in going into teaching, for example, but leave with an amount of student debt that makes that untenable,B次元官网网址� Thomas said in an interview. B次元官网网址淚n some ways, it was a liberation gift for these young men that just opened up their choices.B次元官网网址�

Errin Haines Whack, The Associated Press

Like us on and follow us on .