Anonymous donor pays student debt of Texas College graduates

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By Asiya Ali

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An anonymous donor has surprised the students of Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, by clearing their debt.

Per NBC News, Wiley College said in a news release that over 100 students gathered for graduation on Saturday when the school's CEO and president, Herman J. Felton Jr., made the announcement during the commencement ceremony.

Felton Jr. said the college's commitment to the students "goes beyond their time while they are enrolled," and that he’s thankful for the anonymous donor because the donation will help the college "achieve institutional goals of graduating our students with little to no debt."

"We are constantly communicating with donors to assist students in these ways so that they can begin their after-college experience with less debt," Felton Jr. added in the press release.

Watch the moment the students found out about the donation below:

The school posted a clip of the joyous moment on its Twitter account to its almost 5,000 followers, with the students and parents cheering in excitement.

"You are debt-free; you do not owe the college a penny," Felton Jr. said to cheers and applause. "If you have a balance, you had a balance. You no longer have a balance."

The class of 2022 reportedly owed a balance totaling $300,000.

According to the Wiley College website news release, the college is committed to promoting access and has reduced its tuition in the past years to $17,500.

However, some students may still have balances because Covid-19 has "exacerbated many students’ ability to pay their balances".

Per Huffington Post, the conversation of student loan forgiveness echos back to President Joe Biden's conclusion on the matter. Recently he said that his administration is weeks away from a decision.

"I am considering dealing with some debt reduction. I am not considering $50,000 in debt reduction," Biden said in response to questions from reporters about how much debt he would cancel.

"I’m in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not there will be additional debt forgiveness, and I’ll have an answer on that in the next couple of weeks," he added.

The historically Black college is known for its triumph win against the University of Southern California's highly ranked debate team in 1935 when the nation was heavily segregated. The 2007 movie The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington, was inspired by the 1935 historical debate.

Featured image credit: Rawf8 / Alamy.