Community Chat

[suzyQ3]

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

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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.

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Exactly how this would be made mandatory is anyone's guess.

[occasionalrain]

We all know, or should know, there is no black or white, no all good or all bad.

A few posted some of the down side of Mr. Smith's generosity. Instead of receiving their thoughts graciously, even pausing to consider their view, some attacked them and made unkind assumptions about them. On any subject there are various and opposing views.

A few of my concerns about the message this gift sends:

Two students, one borrows all he can and uses it to travel and spend a year of study abroad while the other just borrows the minimum he needs to cover what his summer job doesn't. The first is rewarded for being spendy while the second feels punished for being frugal.

Would it have been better if each graduate got the same amount so that all were rewarded equally?

This will have other graduates expecting the same from their wealthy guest speakers. 

Will future speakers be chosen for their net worth and reputation for generosity?

Will those not wanting to feel pressure to pay decline invitations to speak?

[suzyQ3]

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@occasionalrain wrote:

We all know, or should know, there is no black or white, no all good or all bad.

A few posted some of the down side of Mr. Smith's generosity. Instead of receiving their thoughts graciously, even pausing to consider their view, some attacked them and made unkind assumptions about them. On any subject there are various and opposing views.

A few of my concerns about the message this gift sends:

Two students, one borrows all he can and uses it to travel and spend a year of study abroad while the other just borrows the minimum he needs to cover what his summer job doesn't. The first is rewarded for being spendy while the second feels punished for being frugal.

Would it have been better if each graduate got the same amount so that all were rewarded equally?

This will have other graduates expecting the same from their wealthy guest speakers. 

Will future speakers be chosen for their net worth and reputation for generosity?

Will those not wanting to feel pressure to pay decline invitations to speak?

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@occasionalrain, when you make a grand and gracious donation to help people, please post here so that we can "rain" on your parade with a list of our "concerns."

[RoughDraft]

I've never seen so many "ifs" on a thread until now.

[cherry]

No one has to seek my permission to make a gift ,or a bequest, to anyone. I thought giving a gift , to any recipient, was up to the donor.  I don't look gift horses in the mouth

I am glad that the spirit of giving is still alive ,and well in this country. Bad things happen ,all for the want of a nail..Penny wise and pound foolish comes to mind

If you can keep your head when all about you, men are losing theirs ,and blaming it on you...

[momtochloe]

Robert F. Smith did a wonderful and wildly generous thing but I don't see this as a gift.  It's more of an investment in a deserving class of students.  Are all of them deserving of this gift?  Will all of them pay it forward?  Maybe not but I would bet the majority of them will with interest and more importantly quickly as they will not be encumbered with student loan debt.  God bless him for his generosity and thank you for the memory of seeing those student's faces when it finally registered with them what they had just received.  

Bravo!

[occasionalrain]

@suzyQ3  I would never post about my generosity. I would never make a display, a public grand gesture. I wouldn't want accolades. It's what I understand to be show boating and to be avoided.

[homedecor1]

@chrystaltree 

My niece (who is also my goddaughter) is extremely well educated like yours.  Believe me, I've always "wondered" what her final student debt amount is as she has Masters & now enrolled in PhD program.  Yes she is CFO for a major hospital but as you pointed out a big chunk is taken every month from her salary to pay down student loan debt.  Which is projected pay off 22 years😳.

I have helped her thru her whole education including private school and she (as your niece, I'm sure) is the most grateful because no one tells these kids what a burden student loan debt is for years after.  I do know the amount which is more than a nice house😮 absolutely ridiculous.

I'm thrilled to help her because its good for me too.  My boys got scholarships and such, but, chose career path that only required 4 years.  We helped them too but my dad upon death left them trust funds with enough for a 4 year college education.  Blessed by his hindsight as he died when they were 5 and 11.  This is why I am able to help her in her education.  She's married now but I'm still willing to help her, if necessary🙂

As for this gentlemen giving these young men a gift of "freedom from student loan debt" I bet those neasayers will be shocked in the years to come to find out the good works they've done & paid it forward in some aspect!

[Lindsays Grandma]

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@kitcat51 wrote:

Awful, just an awful thing to do...the students & parents took on the debt so they should pay it.

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@kitcat51 If one of those graduates was your son, would you still feel that way?

[Sublime Saumya]

it’s the most amazing gift one can ever have. God Bless him for his thoughtfulness and act of humanity.