Economics

We Can Free a Generation From Burden of College Loan Debt

Published

7 years ago

June 13, 2019

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

The reaction — shock, joy, disbelief, euphoria — revealed the importance of Robert F. Smith’s stunning gift, when he announced, unexpectedly, that he would pay off all the college debts of Morehouse College students graduating this year.

His gift literally changed the prospects and the lives of the vast majority of those 396 graduates.

Morehouse is a proud, historically black college, the alma mater of extraordinary leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Julian Bond, Howard Thurman, Maynard Jackson, former head of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, former head of the black caucus Cedric Richmond, Hollywood legends Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee, Olympic champion Edwin Moses and many more.

Full-time tuition costs $25,368, with room and board and other expenses, a year at Morehouse can cost nearly $50,000. Ninety percent of Morehouse students get some kind of financial aid, cobbling together Pell grants, federal and private loans, family loans and more.

Morehouse seniors who borrow to pay for college carry an average of $26,000 in federal student loans. Private loans, federal Parent Plus loans, credit card and other debts are on top of that. The federal student loans alone would result in a monthly payment of $276.

Robert F Smith’s generosity has literally transformed the lives of those students. Now instead of putting off graduate school or being forced to live at home, and later postponing marriage and children, they are free to benefit from the hard work they have done to graduate from college. They can seek jobs that they want without being forced to take one or more that can help them pay down their loans. They are free to dream.

Many of those benefiting from Smith’s remarkable generosity expressed what one student, Myles Washington, called a “level of survivor’s guilt.” All had friends who could not afford to go to college, or who were forced to withdraw early in the face of growing debts.

Robert F. Smith is a billionaire, the brilliant founder of Vista Equity Partners, who has made a fortune largely in purchasing and selling software firms. Raised in Denver, the child of two parents with Ph.D.s, he graduated from Cornell and later got his MBA at Columbia. His gift to the Morehouse students is only a small part of his philanthropy, which has included major support for Cornell, his alma mater, and for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as his service as chair to The Board of Carnegie Hall and much more.

With this gift, he has set a standard for others of great wealth. He has, as he put it at the Morehouse commencement, “paid it forward,” by freeing the potential of young graduates.

His gift should also rouse Congress to redress the folly of shackling the best of the young generation with often unpayable debt simply to get the education this country says they need.

Student loan debt now totals over $1.5 trillion. After home mortgages, it is the largest source of debt, exceeding car loans and credit card debts. Almost two-thirds of all students are forced to borrow to pay for college; they end with an average debt of nearly $29,000. The debt of African-American students is, on average, $7,400 more than that of white students, reflecting the wealth gap that has built up over years of slavery, segregation and housing and employment discrimination.

Democratic presidential candidates like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont are calling for making public colleges tuition-free. Warren has put forth a detailed plan to pay off a substantial portion of existing student loans. Some like Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) say we can’t afford to do that. But we are a wealthier country than Germany, yet college there is free.

This is a question of priorities not resources. The number of corporations that pay nothing in taxes has doubled under Donald Trump’s tax cut. The cost of that tax cut, most of which went to the already wealthy, is estimated at $1.7 trillion over 10 years. That alone would have been able to pay off all current student debts.

Robert Smith’s generous promise should goad all of us into action. It is a personal tragedy and a national folly to burden an entire generation with often unpayable loans simply to get an education. We all benefit from a well-educated, active population. We all suffer when an entire generation is locked into debt from the day they get out of college.

Smith has freed nearly 400 Morehouse graduates from that burden. We should demand that Congress act to offer every student that relief.

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Posts by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

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Activism

The People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft Speaks at National Probate Reform Coalition Meeting

Evangeline Byars and Carmella Carrington lead the STOPDEEDTHEFT.org movement, fighting rising deed and title fraud, which disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities nationwide.

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2026

Oakland Post

Left to right: Evangeline Byars and Carmella Carrington are gaining nationwide attention with their STOPDEEDTHEFT.org movement.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Probate Reform Coalition (NPRC) has learned that aside from rampant theft of properties occurring through probate court, deed theft extends even further with the support of banks, police, judges, attorneys and “the system” to steal Black and Brown properties.

Deed and title fraud are rising, with FBI data showing over 9,300 complaints and $173.6 million in losses in 2024 alone.

To that end, NPRC invited Evangeline Byars of The People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft as their keynote speaker on May 7.

Deed theft victims reach out to Byars because she has a reputation of getting things done. Introduced to community organizing at Medgar Evers College in 2011, Byars was mentored by Harry Belafonte and gained further movement training in 2012-13 through his “Gathering for Justice.” Byars also trained with the Youth Brigade 32BJ, Union in 2012 where she learned to map, target, and execute actions.

With that knowledge as an advocacy worker, Byars ran for president of TWU Local 100 for transit workers. During challenges of the union and political changes in New York when unions no longer had friends in government, they organized.

In 2025, deed theft victims approached Byars and told their stories. Byars investigated, and discovered rampant, unrelenting theft of properties, primarily from Black and brown families, got involved and helped them with their fight, teaching them how to sustain their fight at the grassroots level while remaining politically independent. This independence gave them the ability to move without co promise.

Deed theft is the taking of someone’s deed through fraudulent mortgages or a stranger that accesses property records, prepares paperwork and files for an owner’s property. New York is a’ first notice’ state, which means whoever appears first on record is the designated deed holder.

Deed theft escalated between 2013-23, the outcome of the subprime market, when people faced mass foreclosure and short sales. By 2014 people, primary Black and Brown, were fighting for their property.

In California, title theft (deed fraud) is a fast-growing threat often targeting high-equity homes, vacant land, and rentals. As of 2024, California leads the nation in real estate fraud with over 1,583 cases costing roughly $24.8 million in losses in a single year, reflecting the state’s prime position for scammers due to high property values, the FBI reports.

Byars says, “Deed theft affects Black and Brown people: it is by design, leading to the erasure of people of color homeownership that is happening nationwide. In every big city across the United States, towns and municipalities, we are witnessing a mass exodus of Black and brown people. This theft cannot occur without judges, notaries and law enforcement, it is a syndicate of players working together for the removal of people by illegal ejectment or eviction.

The People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft does court watch and constantly highlight the inequities in the court system.

Byars says, “This is a human rights crisis. Because of Wall Street and what New York signifies to the nation, know that no state is safe. Any person can come and create paper terrorism, slap forgery notes on homes; engage in illegal guardian procedures; initiate foreclosures; apply for fraudulent loan modifications; then there’s outright theft and forgery, just taking people’s homes. Believe me, it’s happening nationally and on the daily, These predators also target seniors over the age of 60 and women.”

The People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft take direct actions against perpetrators and are working with the New York District Attorney to create an office dedicated to gighting deed theft.

“Two ways to protect your deed is to keep a note, never satisfy your mortgage, because the bank is the biggest gangster, but if you’re making a payment, it keeps them in check. Or put your home in a living trust, once you have a trust, it hides the owner’s name and protects the person from predators.”