FAMU’s parting gift to graduates: $16 million of student debt forgiven

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FAMU President Dr. Larry Robinson hands retired diplomas and bully quality astatine Saturday's commencement ceremony.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida A&M University said goodbye to the people of 2021 this weekend, not lone with their degrees successful manus but besides with a parting gift.

The assemblage amazed students during commencement ceremonies telling them their outstanding debts from their elder twelvemonth had been wiped clean.

“There was immoderate wealth connected the relationship a week agone and present it’s gone. That was not a mistake,” University President Dr. Larry Robinson told them astatine a Saturday’s commencement ceremony.

Using $16 cardinal successful national stimulus funds, FAMU erased the indebtedness students racked up implicit this past schoolhouse year.

“During COVID, galore students had fiscal difficulties arsenic good arsenic their families,” said vice president of pupil affairs, Dr. William Hudson Jr.

The wealth came from FAMU’s information of the $1 cardinal dedicated to Historically Black Colleges and Universities successful the latest CARES Act.

Hudson said the motion volition assistance easiness the fiscal load connected students astatine the assemblage which serves a colonisation disproportionately reliant connected pupil loans.

“A precise astatine hazard colonisation owed to socioeconomic circumstances. So galore of the HBCUs crossed the United States are doing akin things,” said Hudson. “And we’re blessed to beryllium a person successful that country with HBCUs. And arsenic the fig 1 nationalist HBCU, we instrumentality that precise earnestly successful helping our students crossed this federation graduate.”

Federal data shows Black students permission assemblage owing an mean of $52,726, astir $25,000 much than their achromatic peers.

According to Dr. Hudson, 90% of FAMU students person immoderate signifier of fiscal aid.

“As a pupil who took retired pupil loans, and presently inactive paying connected those pupil loans, I recognize the load of debt. And truthful being capable to alteration the indebtedness of students erstwhile they postgraduate is thing that’s precise important to Florida A&M University,” said Hudson.

And looking up the assemblage says it hopes to replicate this year’s indebtedness forgiveness for aboriginal classes, particularly arsenic the coming twelvemonth besides appears challenging with Florida’s COVID cases continuing to spike.

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