Robert F. Smith is a billionaire hedge fund operator whom you’ve probably never heard of. That may change, as his surprising pledge at Morehouse College commencement ceremony in Atlanta is making national news and virtually guarantees he’ll be in high demand as a future graduation speaker.
Smith surprised the school’s 396 graduates, not to mention their parents and the college leaders, by saying that his family is going to pay off their student loans. At a time when college education debt is rising rapidly, this is a tremendous gift, one that by one estimate could save students up to $10 million.
If that figure is accurate, by the way, it means the average Morehouse 2019 graduate owes about $25,000 for his education. Which means that some graduates owe a lot more than that.
It’s sort of a shame that Smith couldn’t do something else for the graduates, such as help them line up job interviews or connect them with potential employers. But his instinct to get this particular group on better financial footing was the right move. This way, the graduates won’t be working for 10 or 20 years with remaining student loan debt affecting the decisions they make.
Smith said he expected the Class of 2019 to pay his gift forward, and he encouraged Morehouse alumni to make an effort to help the school’s future graduates.
Aside from his financial generosity, he had an upbeat, optimistic message for the graduates, one that emphasized the importance of education and hard work.
He talked about growing up in Denver, Colo., where he was bused to a high-performing, predominantly white school across town.
“Those five years drastically changed the trajectory of my life,” he said. “The teachers ... were extraordinary. They embraced me and challenged me to think critically and start to move toward my full potential. I, in turn, came to realize at a young age that the white kids and the black kids, the Jewish kids and the one Asian kid were all pretty much the same.”
Smith graduated from Cornell University, an Ivy League school. Before making his fortune as a private investor, he started out as a chemical engineer who “spent pretty much every waking hour in windowless labs doing the work that helped me become an expert in my field.”
That hard work, he said, was the foundation for his later success.
“Only after I put in the time to develop this expertise and the discipline of the scientific process was I able to apply my knowledge beyond the lab,” he said. “Greatness is born out of the grind. Embrace the grind.”
American culture perpetually admires the quarterback or point guard who wins championships because of a relentless commitment to practice. But we forget that the same principle applies to “regular” jobs — and even to other tasks like parenthood. “Embrace the grind” is a superb message for the Class of 2019.
