These Billionaires Are Stepping Up As HBCUs Are Squeezed By Student Loan Cuts

Forbes

Historically Black colleges and universities are on the frontlines of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s new limits on parent and graduate student loans. Philanthropists could help fill the gap.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/daniellechemtob/2025/10/16/these-billionaires-are-stepping-up-as-hbcus-are-squeezed-by-student-loan-cuts/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, these billionaires are stepping up as HBCUs are squeezed by student loan cuts.

00:08Antonio Sweeney relied on a mix of private and school scholarships,

00:12plus a federal Pell Grant for low-income students,

00:15to pay for his first two years at his dream school, Morehouse College, in Atlanta,

00:20the alma mater of Senator Raphael Warnock, Democrat of Georgia, and Martin Luther King Jr.

00:25But, by junior year, most of the outside scholarship money was used up,

00:31and he had taken on so many activities, from serving as class president to running his own side businesses,

00:36that he hadn't earned enough credits to keep his Morehouse academic scholarship.

00:41He filled the gap that year by taking out federal and private student loans.

00:45Now, in his senior year, his mother has come to the rescue.

00:49She borrowed $24,419 this fall from the federal Parent PLUS program

00:54and plans to tap a similar amount for the spring semester.

00:58His mother, Sylvia Triplett, a Flint, Michigan, special education teacher,

01:03still paying off her own student loans, says,

01:05quote,

01:06We're almost at the finish line, and if this is what's needed to be done for him to complete his education,

01:11then as a parent, I'm willing to do it.

01:14Sweeney and Triplett shared their story with Forbes for a good reason.

01:18As part of President Donald Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act,

01:22beginning next July 1st, new Parent PLUS borrowers will be limited to $20,000 per school year

01:28and $65,000 over a student's school career.

01:32Sweeney worries, quote,

01:34It's going to force families to have to decide to tell their kids,

01:37Hey, we don't have enough money for you to go to your dream school.

01:41They're not the only ones thinking about the problems students at historically black colleges and universities,

01:46or HBCUs, have had financing their studies.

01:50On October 13th, the Family Foundation of Arthur Blank,

01:53the owner of the Atlanta Falcons and co-founder of Home Depot,

01:57committed $50 million over the next 10 years to, quote,

02:00gap the scholarships for students at four Atlanta HBCUs.

02:05The grants are meant to fill financial shortfalls left after students have exhausted

02:09all their other scholarship, grant, and loan options,

02:13and will go mostly to juniors and seniors who might otherwise drop out for lack of funds.

02:18Blank had made smaller gifts to the schools before, for specific infrastructure or sports.

02:24But in an email to Forbes, he explained that, quote,

02:26Blank added that while he's aware of the, quote,

02:47broader conversations around student debt and borrowing,

02:50the gift isn't a response to that, but to the needs of, quote,

02:54real students in our community.

02:56Meanwhile, private equity billionaire Robert F. Smith

03:00is planning to expand his Student Freedom Initiative,

03:03which now makes low-cost loans to HBCU undergraduates,

03:07to graduate students,

03:08who will be hit by the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill's

03:11new limits on graduate student loans.

03:13And in September, Mackenzie Scott,

03:16a novelist, philanthropist, and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos,

03:20made a $70 million gift to the United Negro College Fund

03:23to help build endowments for its 37-member private HBCUs.

03:29Scott, Smith, and Blank are all Forbes 400 members and signatories of the Giving Pledge,

03:35a commitment from some of the world's richest individuals

03:37to give away the majority of their wealth during their lifetimes or in their wills.

03:42Chronically underfunded for decades,

03:44the nation's 107 HBCUs and their students rely heavily on federal loans.

03:51In 2019-2020, 65% of HBCU undergraduates took out federal loans

03:57and 18% had parents who tapped PLUS loans,

04:01compared to 36% of students borrowing

04:03and just 4% of parents borrowing for undergraduates as a whole.

04:07For full coverage, check out Danielle Kemptob's piece on Forbes.com.

04:14This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:16Thanks for tuning in.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended