Name: 莫爾豪斯的學生們剛剛得到了一份驚豔的畢業禮物。怎樣才能幫助更多的有色人種學生？ (Morehouse students just got a stunning graduation gift. What can help more students of color?)
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JUDY WOODRUFF: The growth in student debt for students now in college has finally started

But, for many, the burden remains high, since debt had been soaring for over two decades.

Roughly two in three seniors who graduate from public and private nonprofit colleges

had an average debt of more than $28,000 in 2017.

That compares with about $13,000 in 1996.

The challenges of all that debt were cast back into the national conversation this week

It's all part of our special series Rethinking College.

You remember that billionaire investor and philanthropist Robert F. Smith.

He stunned the graduating class of Morehouse College during his commencement address on

He promised to eliminate the student debt of all 396 members of the class of 2019.

But his generous pledge also highlighted the distinct wealth gap for recent African-American

They carry nearly $7,500 more debt than their white counterparts.

Smith, who is the wealthiest African-American in the U.S., said he intended his gift to

ROBERT F. SMITH, Philanthropist: We're going to put a little fuel in your bus.

ROBERT F. SMITH: And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans.

AMNA NAWAZ: For a deeper look at that Morehouse gift and some of the broader questions it

She's professor at the University of Georgia School of Law and author of "The Color of

Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap."

And Scott Jaschik, the editor of Inside Higher Ed.

Big picture for the average student, what is the impact of a gift like this?

MEHRSA BARADARAN, University of Georgia School of Law: This is not just this -- you know,

their lives, but this will have intergenerational effects.

I mean, this will change their entire trajectory.

Maybe they can, you know, start their lives, have children.

That psychological debt load that they have been carrying can be wiped out.

And so they can then push their children out into the world.

So, for this group of, you know, 400 Morehouse graduates who got their debt wiped out, I

And it really is -- does show how effective that, you know, student debt is in sort of,

you know, determining your life outcomes.

AMNA NAWAZ: The life lottery this one class has won, it's significant not just because

of the way that Smith made the gift, but also the fact that it's at Morehouse.

Talk to me a little bit about the debt for these students, as compared to the larger

SCOTT JASCHIK, Inside Higher Education: Sure.

So, debt is a struggle for many graduates of all races and ethnicities.

But the reality is, a black student is less likely than a white student to have had a

family that could contribute a lot of money to education.

Now, my parents paid for my sisters and I to go to expensive private colleges.

Many black families love their children just as much, but they don't have the kind of money

On average, there are -- about 30 percent of black students graduate with $100,000 in

That's three times the level of a white student.

These are very large numbers, and they influence what they can do.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, a gift like this is really going to make a difference.

But, Mehrsa, we heard there Robert Smith challenge other alumni to do something similar, right?

It's a massive difference for these 400 students.

It's so generous of a billionaire to give so generously of his wealth.

But there just aren't enough billionaires to deal with this problem.

I mean, we're talking about two-thirds of white students, 80-something percent of black

And there aren't enough billionaires who are committed, capable and willing to do it.

And, also, we shouldn't -- democracy shouldn't rely on the charity and the generosity of

a few people to really solve systemic problems.

So, we really, I think, do need to look at this as a social problem.

It is all of the effects psychologically, again, of life outcomes.

It is what they can and can't do going forward.

And so I think it's really time to look forward to policy changes that will help these students,

this whole generation to deal with that debt.

AMNA NAWAZ: Speaking of policies, I want to mention some of the students who were not

This gift, we should point out, only applies to the 396 students who graduated, many of

whom were tweeting their thanks and celebrating online.

But there was one account I wanted to share.

It was by a student named Jordan Long, who's 22 years old.

He tweeted after learning about that gift.

And he tweeted this: "I left Morehouse class of 2019 to avoid debt.

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莫爾豪斯的學生們剛剛得到了一份驚豔的畢業禮物。怎樣才能幫助更多的有色人種學生？ (Morehouse students just got a stunning graduation gift. What can help more students of color?)

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