Community Chat

[Cakers3]

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@occasionalrain  My mistake.  I'm sorry.

[occasionalrain]

@Cakers3  I know who Till was. Obviously, I meant Robert Smith and typed Till by mistake. Thank you for letting me know so that I can fix it.

[RoughDraft]

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@Cakers3 wrote:

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@occasionalrain wrote:

@cherry  You're seeing what you want to see. I have no issue with what Till did with his money. My issue is with the unkind resposes toward a poster who saw the possible negative aspect of it. I dislike Meghan and I dislike Bill Gates, both because of their their choices. 

It's easy and unfair to dismiss another's opinion by claiming they hate women, are racist, jealous, anti-gay ...when none of those are likely true. They're not true about me. 

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@occasionalrain  Apparently you have no idea who Emmett Till was.

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Have mercy!

[Zernia Rose]

Ponder this information about Mr. Smith and his generosity.  He has donated multimillion dollar sums to Cornell and Columbia Universities for which his name has been placed on a building.  He also donated 20 million to the African American History Museum in Washington, DC.  He also supports many other causes and his wife advocates for those with disabilities.  Equally important, he has signed "The Giving Pledge" initiated by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett and has pledged to donate at least half of his wealth to charitable causes.  I find it fascinating that he also has multiple patents including international ones.  He is also committed to ensuring that African American history and culture and issues are supported through the grant making organization he founded ( his actions are not unlike those of other religious or ethnic groups that found organizations to support their causes, e.g. the Holocaust Museum or the project supported by Steven Spielberg to chronicle the stories of Holocaust survivors,  This is not a criticism' only a comparative example.).

[Johnnyeager]

I'm happy that I still have absolutely no clue, despite having read this complete thread again, as to why people are critical of this action.

I'm grateful that my mind just doesn't work like that.

[CrazyDaisy]

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

I think it would behoove those who criticize this gift to do some research on how school loan debts are strangling so many people.

From the article in today's LAT about this gesture, one student did the math. He will be paying half his salary for many years in order to pay off his debt.

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 — 25 years at half his monthly salary, per his calculations.

In an instant, that number vanished.

Mitchom, sitting in the crowd, wept.

“I can delete that spreadsheet,” he said in an interview after the commencement. “I don’t 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.”

His mother, Tina Mitchom, was also shocked. Eight family members, including Mitchom’s 76-year-old grandmother, took turns over four years co-signing on the loans that got him across the finish line.

“It takes a village,” she said. “It 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 plan” for his younger siblings.

Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said the gift would have a profound effect on the students’ futures.

“Many of my students are interested in going into teaching, for example, but leave with an amount of student debt that makes that untenable,” Thomas said in an interview. “In some ways, it was a liberation gift for these young men that just opened up their choices.”

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This calculation should be done by every student BEFORE they take out loans.

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@CrazyDaisy, maybe or maybe they have rough idea anyway. Regardless, if they don't take the chance because of the amount, then college would be primarily for the wealthy.

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Would you buy a car or house without knowing what it would cost you?  Why are you giving a pass to those who are buying an education?  There are many options, community college, part time, etc.  There is even the possibility that the cost would come down without the easy money from student loans were not so common.

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@CrazyDaisy, so really what you're advocating is a reduction of the "easy money."  I would advocate MORE help for qualified students who want to attend a university (or a trade school, one that actually prepares students for a career and isn't just out to fleece them).

I'm not much in favor of abetting the already increasingly huge gap between the haves and the have-nots in our society.

And it's not as if we're talking about something trivial; we're talking education. An uneducated society is doomed in one way or another.

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You are talking about an entirely different topic.  Student loans are relatively easy in comparison to other type of personal loans because of the requirements of them being paid back.  Students and parents need to take a hard look at the debt they are going into and the time it will require to pay it back.  Used wisely these loans can and do fund the education of our doctors, teachers, engineers...  Way to many fall into the trap of "buy now pay later" mentality and never realize how big a hole they are getting into.  Colleges are no help, they will help you get more loans because lets face it you are giving it to them.  Then there are those who realize college is not for them and leave for a job, yet still are required to pay for those loans. Looking at these loans as a real future liability and having a plan to address it should be required rather than the kicking it down the road approach so many are taking now.

[MyShadowLove]

@Marp ...Thanks for sharing this wonderful inspiring and positive story!...Mr. Smith's generosity and reaching out to help others has also given these students a powerful life lesson as they go forward in their future endeavors!...What a great role model for all of them!..I can't think of a more fantastic legacy than that of one giving of themselves to help others!

I would have loved to have been there and seen the expressions on the faces of all those students!

[Lindsays Grandma]

When I saw the article my first thought was that the graduates were indeed very, very lucky.  To be able to move forward after college graduation debt free is the best gift anyone can receive.  The donor is indeed a very kind and generous man.  

[Caaareful Shopper]

I intentionally stayed away from this thread because I knew it would generate some responses that I just did not want to give energy, even in just reading them.  It was as if I could just keep the negativity unopened so no oxygen could get in, and let it just wither away in its own contemptible pool.

But now that I've read all 108 posts, I am heartened by all the overwhelming positiveness that people do feel about the generous act of Mr. Smith. He erased the college debt of 396 students who received their degree.  !!!

Billionaires can spend their money in many ways.  They can horde it.  They can invest it to make more.  They can spend it on building country clubs. 

Yet it seems to compromise someone's principles to feel good about his extraordinary generosity.  Let that simmer, but unfortunately I am not at all surprised. 

My hope is that it fosters more acts in kind. If just 10% of that student class pays it forward because now they can (even in a much smaller way), the benefits over the years can be endless. 

[suzyQ3]

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@Caaareful Shopper wrote:

I intentionally stayed away from this thread because I knew it would generate some responses that I just did not want to give energy, even in just reading them.  It was as if I could just keep the negativity unopened so no oxygen could get in, and let it just wither away in its own contemptible pool.

But now that I've read all 108 posts, I am heartened by all the overwhelming positiveness that people do feel about the generous act of Mr. Smith. He erased the college debt of 396 students who received their degree.  !!!

Billionaires can spend their money in many ways.  They can horde it.  They can invest it to make more.  They can spend it on building country clubs. 

Yet it seems to compromise someone's principles to feel good about his extraordinary generosity.  Let that simmer, but unfortunately I am not at all surprised. 

My hope is that it fosters more acts in kind. If just 10% of that student class pays it forward because now they can (even in a much smaller way), the benefits over the years can be endless. 

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Oh, if only. @Caaareful Shopper :-)