Want to Pay Off a Student’s Debt? At Morehouse, Donors Now Can

The surprise announcement elicited disbelief, then jubilation from the crowd of 396 graduates at Morehouse College’s commencement in May, and from onlookers like Xavier Antoine, a junior who was photographing the celebration. The extraordinary and unexpected pledge also led other Morehouse men like Mr. Antoine, who has taken out several student loans, to ask the inevitable question: What about the Class of 2020?  Morehouse sought to answer that last week by unveiling a new program in which the school will solicit donations that would go directly to paying off its students’ loans. The plan, which also includes studying how reducing debt affects graduates’ choices after college, follows efforts by politicians, state governments and individual universities over the last few years to reduce or, in some cases, eliminate tuition.